A federal judge denied a motion by attorneys representing the Virgin Islands Tuesday, questioning their knowledge of basic court procedure.
United States District Judge Evan Rikhye of the District of the Virgin Islands, a Trump appointee, rejected a “motion to strike” from the territorial government filed on July 22, the day the territory’s attorneys were supposed to file a brief regarding a newly-enacted gun control law. In an opinion that came with the order, Rikhye tore into the territory’s attorneys for missing another filing deadline, the latest rebuke since Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon sued the territory in December.
“The Defendant filed its Motion to Strike on July 22, 2026—the precise court-ordered deadline for Defendant to submit its brief regarding the newly enacted Virgin Islands statute, titled the ‘2026 Second Amendment Rights and Public Safety Act,’” Rikhye wrote in a footnote to the opinion. “Defendant failed to timely file that brief, yet somehow managed to file its Motion to Strike that same day. The following day, Defendant filed its brief one day late, without first seeking leave of Court. Only after submitting the untimely brief did Defendant retroactively seek leave for the late filing. The Court will address this procedural noncompliance under separate order.”
“The Court cautions Defendant that the people of the Virgin Islands would be far better served by the Office of the Virgin Islands Attorney General if counsel for that office focused attention upon the basic task of adhering to court-ordered deadlines, rather than filing extraneous motions that misapprehend the federal rules of civil procedure,” Rikhye continued.
Virgin Islands Attorney General Gordon Campbell Rhea did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
In July, Rikhye chastised attorneys representing the territory for filing a response six days after the deadline in a previous pre-trial procedure.
“The Court notes with disappointment Defense counsel’s glaring lack of attention to basic litigation procedures,” Rikhye wrote as he denied the territory’s request for additional time to deal with the matter.
“This controversy does not merely involve individual litigants; it implicates the fundamental constitutional rights of the people of the Virgin Islands,” Rikhye added. “Accordingly, Defense counsel – appearing as a representative of this territory’s citizens – must treat this matter with the competence, care and professionalism expected of all litigants appearing before this Court.”
The Virgin Islands has come under scrutiny over its firearms laws during the second Trump administration, with the Justice Department (DOJ) initially filing suit against the Caribbean territory in December over its licensing scheme. The territory rammed through a law in June that included a ban on modern semiautomatic firearms, seeking to declare the case moot, only for the DOJ to note multiple constitutional violations in the new law.
The DOJ listed nine provisions, including two separate carry bans and three separate bans on firearms and/or accessories among the provisions it said violated the Second Amendment, from the new law that did not meet constitutional muster in the July 29 filing responding to the motion to dismiss.
Gun Owners of America also sued the Caribbean Sea territory over its ban on possession of firearms by non-residents. The pro-Second Amendment groups noted the territory had rescinded what limited recognition it previously gave to people with concealed carry permits in the complaint filed with the United States District Court of the Virgin Islands, leaving people the choice of going defenseless or facing a minimum sentence of ten years in prison.
(DCNF)
