Heller v. District of Columbia (2008)

**District of Columbia v. Heller** is the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision that established, as a matter of binding federal law, that the **Second Amendment protects an individual right** to keep and bear arms unconnected with service in a militia. Before Heller, the leading federal interpretation since **U.S. v. Miller (1939)** had treated the Second Amendment primarily as a collective right connected to organized militia service. Heller, written by Justice Scalia for a 5–4 majority, explicitly rejected that reading. Heller struck down D.C.'s handgun ban and established the individual-right baseline that every subsequent Second Amendment case — **McDonald v. Chicago (2010)**, which incorporated the right against the states, and **New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022)**, which set the current "text, history, and tradition" test — has built on.