Joseph Greenlee joined the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action a little over a year ago. He’s the Director of Litigation Counsel and spoke about his time with them.
Greenlee dove head first into his new position with NRA-ILA. When he spilled the beans to Bearing Arms, he spoke about pending litigation, strategies going forward, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, and a new suit challenging New Jersey’s ban on suppressors. The prolific attorney has been at the grind since joining NRA-ILA.
Prior to taking his current post, Greenlee cut his teeth with ten years of litigation-heavy experience. He served as a senior attorney and the director of constitutional studies at the Firearms Policy Coalition for five years. Prior to his time with FPC, Greenlee was in private practice, also for five years. He said he took as much Second Amendment work as possible at that time, noting that the Second Amendment Foundation was one of his biggest clients.
Greenlee said that he “always have loved and cherished the right to keep and bear arms.” He further explained that “it so happens that right now, I was really born at the perfect time in American history to do Second Amendment law.” He said that in a hundred years people will look back on the period of 2022 to 2050, and they’ll say that’s when “the scope of the Second Amendment was defined.”
Concerning Greenlee’s time with the NRA-ILA, so far he says, “It’s excellent. I could, I couldn’t be happier. Could not be happier.” He explained that the experience has exceeded his expectations.
“And you know, we’ve been focusing on just becoming as active as possible. NRA has always been very active in litigation,” Greenlee said. “They got kind of a reputation for not being active, I think because they weren’t putting their names on cases.”
Greenlee explained how NYSRPA v. Bruen was an NRA-backed case from day one. Even though they were not listed as a plaintiff, they did support the case and foot the bill. These are things that aren’t printed in the briefs.
Other cases discussed during his conversation with Bearing Arms that are NRA-backed but aren’t known to be, Greenlee said are: Siegel et.al. v. Platkin et.al. and the combined cases of Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, Inc. et.al., Cheeseman, and Rogers v. Platkin et.al.
Siegel–combined with FPC’s Koons case–is a challenge to N.J.’s so-called “Bruen response” law. The combined ANJRPC v. Platkin, cases challenge N.J.’s so-called “Assault Weapons” ban and magazine capacity limitations.
“So a lot of people, even people who follow Second Amendment litigation and Second Amendment news, don’t realize that [NYSRPA v. Bruen] was an NRA case,” Greenlee noted. He further said that the NRA has “always been active.”
One of the more exciting things Greenlee spoke about was a challenge to N.J.’s ban on suppressors. Greenlee expressed his own pleasure in the filing of the case, saying that it’s been the most fun he’s ever had putting together a case. Some of that he attributes to the swath of other groups the NRA is collaborating with on the filing.
“[T]he NRA, along with, well, the American suppressor Association, the Second Amendment Foundation, Safari Club International, Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, and New Jersey Firearm Owners Syndicate, all together have filed this case challenging New Jersey’s prohibition on suppressors,” Greenlee said. “This was filed in the New Jersey District Court, and I expect will eventually make its way up to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.”
Greenlee said he was excited about the filing for two reasons.
He said that NRA-ILA getting an opportunity to work with other wonderful groups has been great. “When you file a case like this, it’s really like entering into some kind of a long term relationship, because these cases can take many years to litigate. So you want to make sure that you file with groups that you really enjoy working with,” Greenlee said. “Honestly, I think, I think this is the most fun I’ve had putting a case–helping to put a case together.”
Second to the relationships that Greenlee and the organizations have been building comes the jurisprudence of the topic at hand. He said he’s excited about this challenge because they feel they have a “really strong case.” He continued, “There’s just no nothing close to a historical tradition of regulation that justifies prohibiting suppressors.”
Something that Greenlee said was that the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals is poised to be one of the better courts to bring suits under. Take hostile-to-the-Second-Amendment New Jersey and have challenges rise up under a now more friendly-to-the-Second-Amendment circuit, and you have a winning strategy.
While looking at things from that perspective, Greenlee was asked: “Is it safe to say that the NRA is coming for New Jersey? Is that a message that we can put out there?”
Greenlee chuckled, making a big toothy grin–smiling through his entire statement–he said, “Well, we certainly intend to be very active in New Jersey. And I, again, I think it’s going to be a very good place to bring cases. So I anticipate bringing a lot of litigation there over the next few years.”
“So I’m going to say that maybe it’s not a full on declaration of war against the Garden State, but you definitely are giving people something to bang their shields over, right?” was asked of Greenlee concerning his response.
“Yes. Well, absolutely,” Greenlee said. “I invite anyone–reaching out letting me know about laws that they think are infringements, because I think it’s really the ideal state for litigation going forward with just, you know, hostile, very anti-rights state as far as the Second Amendment goes, and a fair court that you can get a fair hearing before.”
Joseph Greenlee is doing tremendous work over at the NRA-ILA. This small fillet of information on the enigmatic and prolific man is only the tip of the iceberg. The institute did well in onboarding such a great talent and we look forward to many years of solid litigation–and scholarship–coming from this soldier of the Second Amendment.
If you’re interested in catching the full conversation with Greenlee, you can check that out HERE or in the embed below.
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Read the full article here
