New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport blasted a U.S. Supreme Court ruling today that struck down a Hawaii law restricting concealed firearms on private property open to the public, calling the decision a threat to public safety that will make it more difficult for businesses to protect customers.
In a 6-3 decision in Wolford v. Lopez, the nation’s highest court held that Hawaii’s law violated the Second Amendment by making it illegal for licensed concealed-carry permit holders to bring firearms onto businesses and other privately owned public spaces unless the property owner had expressly granted permission.
The ruling invalidates Hawaii’s so-called “no-carry default” law, which required business owners to affirmatively allow firearms rather than requiring them to post signs prohibiting guns.
“Today’s decision in Wolford v. Lopez is the Supreme Court’s latest dangerous blow to public safety,” Davenport said in a statement. “This badly mistaken decision will make it harder for businesses open to the public to exclude guns from their property, putting additional burdens on them to keep their patrons safe. That outcome doesn’t make anyone safer.”
Davenport accused the Supreme Court of continuing to limit the ability of states to enact gun safety measures.
“While the Supreme Court seems intent on making it harder for states to prevent gun violence, we won’t back down from our efforts to keep the public safe,” she said.
The attorney general pointed to New Jersey’s recent record on gun violence, crediting statewide law enforcement efforts for reducing firearm-related crime.
“I am proud that our office’s leadership and the extraordinary coordination and enforcement efforts of New Jersey law enforcement have resulted in record-low levels of gun violence in New Jersey, and we will continue to use every tool we have to combat the gun violence epidemic,” Davenport stated.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
The case stemmed from Hawaii’s enactment of Act 52 following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which significantly expanded Second Amendment protections for carrying firearms in public. Hawaii responded by making firearms prohibited by default on private property open to the public unless a business owner explicitly authorized concealed carry.
The Supreme Court concluded that states cannot impose such a default rule. The decision, however, leaves intact the right of individual business owners to prohibit firearms on their property through posted notices or other explicit policies.
The ruling is expected to have implications for other states that adopted similar concealed-carry restrictions following the Court’s Bruen decision.
MULLIN V. DOE
Manny Pastreich, president of 32BJ SEIU, denounced a U.S. Supreme Court ruling Thursday that cleared the way for the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 350,000 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians, calling the decision an assault on immigrant workers and their families.
In a 6-3 decision in Mullin v. Doe, the Supreme Court ruled that federal law bars courts from reviewing executive branch decisions to end TPS designations, allowing the administration to move forward with ending deportation protections and work authorizations for affected migrants.
Pastreich said the ruling would have immediate consequences for thousands of union members across the East Coast.
“I join with countless others to express outrage and grief at the Supreme Court’s decision today giving the Trump Administration uncheckable power to upend the lives of TPS recipients,” he said. “Those recipients include thousands of our union members from Boston to Miami who maintain everything from airports to downtown offices, plus countless others working in senior care, childcare, construction, food service, and more.”
While acknowledging that the Court’s ruling cannot be reversed through litigation, Pastreich urged the administration to restore TPS protections for Haitians, Syrians, and other affected groups.
“We urge the administration to immediately reverse course and restore TPS protections for Haitians, Syrians, and others, to keep families together and safe,” he said.
Pastreich also called on Congress to pass legislation that would create a pathway to permanent legal status for long-term TPS recipients, specifically endorsing California Sen. Alex Padilla’s registry bill.
He argued that the administration failed to properly follow the law in ending Haiti’s TPS designation and criticized the Supreme Court for insulating that decision from judicial review.
“It’s clear that the administration ended Haitian TPS without adequately following the legal process,” Pastreich said. “Since the Court could not plausibly defend that failure, they shielded the administration from legal review, setting a dangerous precedent that should alarm all Americans.”
Pastreich pledged that 32BJ SEIU would continue opposing the decision through public demonstrations, elections, and additional legal efforts, saying the union would stand with those seeking to protect immigrant families and constitutional principles.