 Sotomayor was part of the three @-@ judge Second Circuit panel that affirmed the district court 's ruling in Maloney v. Cuomo ( 2009 ) . Maloney was arrested for possession of nunchucks , which are illegal in New York ; Maloney argued that this law violated his Second Amendment right to bear arms . The Second Circuit 's per curiam opinion noted that the Supreme Court has not , so far , ever held that the Second Amendment is binding against state governments . On the contrary , in Presser v. Illinois , a Supreme Court case from 1886 , the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment " is a limitation only upon the power of Congress and the national government , and not upon that of the state " . With respect to the Presser v. Illinois precedent , the panel stated that only the Supreme Court has " the prerogative of overruling its own decisions , " and the recent Supreme Court case of District of Columbia v. Heller ( which struck down the district 's gun ban as unconstitutional ) did " not invalidate this longstanding principle " . The panel upheld the lower court 's decision dismissing Maloney 's challenge to New York 's law against possession of nunchucks . On June 2 , 2009 , a Seventh Circuit panel , including the prominent and heavily cited judges Richard Posner and Frank Easterbrook , unanimously agreed with Maloney v. Cuomo , citing the case in their decision turning back a challenge to Chicago 's gun laws and noting the Supreme Court precedents remain in force until altered by the Supreme Court itself . 
