The Supreme Court on Thursday tossed a lawsuit by the Mexican government against United States gun manufacturers.
The unanimous court decision found that Mexico did not prove a link between the gun manufacturers and cartel violence in Mexico. Justice Elena Kagan wrote the 9-0 opinion in the case known as Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos.
“Mexico alleges that the companies aided and abetted unlawful sales routing guns to Mexican drug cartels. The question presented is whether Mexico’s complaint plausibly pleads that conduct. We conclude it does not,” Kagan wrote.
Lawyers for the Mexican government argued that gun makers in the United States sold firearms to “rogue dealers” who in turn sold guns illegally to Mexican gun traffickers to eventually end up in the possession of cartels. The cartels have used those firearms to do damage to the Mexican government.
Mexico’s argument failed due to a lack of specificity and linkage between the gun manufacturers and the “rogue dealers.”
“To begin, the complaint sets for itself a high bar. It does not pinpoint, as most aiding-and-abetting claims do, any specific criminal transactions that the defendants (allegedly) assisted. Instead, it levels a more general accusation: that all the manufacturers assist some number of unidentified rogue dealers in violation of various legal bars. The systemic nature of that charge cannot help but heighten Mexico’s burden. To survive, it must be backed by plausible allegations of pervasive, systemic, and culpable assistance,” Kagan wrote.
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“Mexico’s lead claim — that the manufacturers elect to sell guns to, among others, known rogue dealers — fails to clear that bar,” she continued. “For one thing, it is far from clear that such behavior, without more, could ever count as aiding and abetting under the Court’s precedents. And in any event, Mexico has not said enough to make its allegations on this point plausible: It does not confront that the manufacturers do not directly supply any dealers, and its complaint does not name alleged bad-apple dealers or provide grounds for thinking that anyone up the supply chain often acquires that information.”
In recent months, President Donald Trump has ramped up pressure on Mexico to crack down on drug cartels across the country. The cartels have long served as human traffickers fomenting illegal immigration and drug traffic into the United States.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has shown some willingness to work with Trump on the cartel issue after the United States placed significant tariffs on Mexican goods, arguing that Mexico’s handling of drug cartels and immigration constituted a severe national security risk to the United States.