By BETHANY BLANKLEY | THE CENTER SQUARE
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is leading a bicameral appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court requesting it to uphold American sovereignty in a $10 billion lawsuit brought by Mexico blaming U.S. gun manufacturers for cartel gun violence in Mexico.
The appeal was made in concert with a similar one by a coalition of 28 state attorneys general, including Alaska’s Attorney General Treg Taylor.
At issue is a 2022 lawsuit brought by the Mexican government against U.S. gun manufacturers arguing they are responsible for Mexican cartel crime in Mexico. A federal judge in Massachusetts dismissed the lawsuit. Mexico then appealed to the First Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled last year that its claim fell within an exception to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005.
When the case was before the First Circuit, Cruz led a bicameral appeal, filing an amicus brief with three U.S. senators and 35 U.S. House members. Like the AGs, they argued the PLCAA protects businesses that sell firearms from being held liable for harm caused by criminals who abuse them. Mexico argues an exception in the law enables it to hold liable American gun manufacturers and distributors for cartel gun crime.
But “Mexico’s arguments in this lawsuit don’t hold water, which is why the suit was thrown out in the district court,” Cruz argued in the First Circuit brief. “In sum, what the government of Mexico is trying to do is impose its own interpretation of American law on American businesses. This demonstrates a disregard for our Constitution and in particular, our Second Amendment. They’re also ignoring the fact that Congress has exercised its authority by passing the law in question here, the … PLCAA, and the fact that the United States is a sovereign nation.”
After the First Circuit ruled in favor of Mexico, 27 AGs, led by Montana, appealed in June to the Supreme Court to throw out the case. Cruz also led 10 senators and 14 House members in another amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court requesting it to grant certiorari.
On Tuesday, Cruz led another coalition of 16 U.S. senators and 22 House members, petitioning the Supreme Court again.
Mexico’s lawsuit “seeks to trample on our Constitution,” Cruz said. “I look forward to the Supreme Court ending this madness, putting an end to Mexico’s assault on our Second Amendment, and sending a clear message that American sovereignty will not be eroded by any country.”
The lawsuit has unified a large group of people “as almost as never before,” said U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, who is leading the U.S. House coalition. “This is a landmark legal question and weighs whether to allow foreign governments to violate American sovereignty, bankrupt our firearms industry with lawfare, and undermine our Second Amendment rights. Today, we reaffirm our commitment to our constitutional freedoms. Our cause will prevail.”
“Mexico’s lawsuit is an affront to the sovereignty of the United States of America,” the brief states. “It has no place in federal court, and it attempts to coerce American courts to subvert the policy determinations of the political branches of the U.S. Government. A nation’s authority on its own soil is virtually absolute. Congress exercised that authority in passing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. … Mexico’s suit disregards those legal principles, trying to impose its own foreign view of liability protection law and the right to bear arms on the American people.
“Mexico’s suit attempts to impose the laws of that foreign nation upon the citizens and companies of this nation. This is ironic, given that Mexico’s Constitution also provides its citizens the right to possess firearms in their residences for self-defense. But that nominal right is a pale shadow of its American counterpart, subject to severe restrictions, coupled with the fact that there is only a single gun store in Mexico. That nation’s laws and tradition of the right to own firearms bear little resemblance to that of our own.”
They also note that the district court “properly rejected Mexico’s arguments that because its alleged injuries occurred outside the United States and because it is a foreign-sovereign plaintiff, PLCAA was categorically inapplicable to this lawsuit.”
In August, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor in Boston again dismissed the case, this time against six of eight U.S. companies named in the lawsuit. He ruled Mexico didn’t provide concrete evidence to prove that their operations in Massachusetts had any connection to cartel gun violence in Mexico.
In October, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear the case.
Hey mexico, FAFO.
If they don’t like it secure the boarder.
We don’t want your drugs or criminals coming into the USA
Anyone remember the ATF’s Fast and Furious gunrunning into Mexico? How about “gunwalking”. The cartels get most of their weapons from the ATF!
This is not the manufacturers fault at all, they just produce a product. Let’s assume for a minute that there were no firearms in the USA. The cartels would buy them from China, or South America; several quality gunmakers there. Then of course Europe.
This lawsuit is as stupid as suing Oneida cutlery for obesity. Or Wusthof for making kitchen knives used in an assault, or Chevron for making gasoline because their gas was purchased prior to an arson.
Mexico is a poor country looking for an easy payout. They should go after the cartels…oh, I forgot, they are too corrupt so those guys get away with it.
Enough with the asinine lawsuits.
“The cartels get most of their weapons from the ATF!”
Actually, no they do not. However, your statement is correct when it comes to guns from the US. Seriously, anyone with sufficient money and influence can purchase full automatic AK-47s for about $75 each globally. Why in the world would the cartels send people into the US to purchase guns at retail?
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The Fast & Furious fiasco was a complete joke. First of all, the 0bama administration had no way of tracking the guns after they left the country. And, the cartels were fully aware of where the guns came from. They tended to leave them behind, unfired at crime scenes where they murdered those they did not like. Not a single person was arrested because of F&F.
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Now, Mexico is a poor country, which is actually run by the cartels. The best thing the cartels could hope for is anything that stops the manufacture and ownership of guns in their neighbor to the north. Get rid of personal gun ownership, and moving your products to every city in the country just got very easy.
Maybe Senator Cruz could return the favor… some sort of lawfare about fentanyl deaths… throw in a civil lawsuit to recover cost of supporting illegal aliens arriving through Mexico…
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This could work… turn the pompous a—- on their head, break their narcostate, no?
Actually, Mexico doesn’t bear responsibility for the intruders. They asked Trump to return the folks to their country of origin rather than they foot the bill. Their borders are a revolving door so they sort of have a point. Mexico is not a friend of the US customs dept.
Respectfully disagree.
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Wouldn’t you have an issue with us if we took money to let robbers, murderes, human traffickers, drug mules, etc. run through our house to take up residence in your house?
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If you hit us for the money it takes to feed, house, clothe, arrest, make victim restitutions, and deport what you’re sending in, –and freeze our assets until it’s paid– in other words, if it suddenly got way too expensive for us to do that kind of stuff to you, we just might be persuaded not to do that stuff anymore, pack up our lawsuits, go home, and beg sicarios to shoot us only with non-American guns.
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Could happen, no?
Yes i would but Mexico isn’t that way.
Maybe so.
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Could be why we don’t see Americans filing lawsuits in Mexican courts arguing drug cartels are responsible for Mexican cartel crime in the U.S.
Mexico most certainly bears responsibility. The invaders walked across Mexico’s southern border without so much as a paperwork check, and were hustled by the Mexican government to their northern border.
All Mexico had to do was stop the intruders from entering Mexico, and you might have a point.
We both know what’s going on down there. Given the current government, it’s not possible. Should we head em off at the pass and take over their southern border?
So, Mexico does bear responsibility. They are failing their duties, or corrupt. Either way, they hold responsibility.
Mexico is quickly turning into one of those sh*thole countries talked about by Trump.
I know for certain that Mexicans in general are not that stupid. These must have been infected by the politicians in California. I’d hate to have to go to war with Mexico again. Watch what you wish for, Mexicanos.