Court Denies Review of Illinois Public Transit Firearms Ban

On April 6, 2026, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Schoenthal v. Raoul, ending the petitioners’ effort to have the Court address whether Illinois may categorically prohibit law-abiding citizens from carrying firearms on public transit. The case had been distributed for conference three times before the denial, a pattern that sometimes reflects internal deliberation but does not, by itself, indicate any Justice was close to granting review.

Petitioners, represented by David H. Thompson, challenged an Illinois statute imposing a flat ban on carrying firearms aboard public transportation. Respondents’ counsel Jane Elinor Notz and Jonathon Delmar Byrer, alongside Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, defended the statute as consistent with historical traditions of firearm regulation in sensitive public spaces. The full lower court record is available on CourtListener.

The National Rifle Association filed an amicus brief supporting the petition, signaling organized interest in the issue. The denial leaves the Seventh Circuit’s approach intact without any signal from the Court about its reasoning.

The denial does not resolve the underlying circuit-level tension over which locations qualify as sensitive places. As more state laws restricting carry in specific venues work through the lower courts, the Court may eventually find a vehicle it considers better suited to address the question. The official Supreme Court docket contains the full record of proceedings.