Judge Lawrence VanDyke
Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
Lawrence James Christopher VanDyke was born in December 1972 in Midland, Texas. He attended Oklahoma Christian University before earning an undergraduate degree in civil engineering from Montana State University and later earned a Master of Construction Engineering Management. He worked in his family’s construction company and earned a Bachelor of Theology from Bear Valley Bible Institute. He received his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. He clerked at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals before entering private practice.
He worked for a period of time as an Assistant Solicitor General of Texas and was the Solicitor General of Montana across a two-year period. He served four years as Solicitor General of Nevada before becoming a deputy Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division.
VanDyke was nominated for a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by President Donald Trump. After a cloture vote, his nomination was confirmed by the Senate and received his commission in January 2020.
In the News…
Judge Lawrence VanDyke of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrote the decision that overturned a lower court’s conviction of Gabriel Metcalf, who had been charged with a felony for the permitless carrying of a firearm in the “buffer“ of a school zone.
The gun owner claimed that, under Montana’s law that treats permitless carry as if it were licensed, he could not know that he was violating the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act. He claimed the conviction violated his Second Amendment rights, an interpretation which the appellate court found “plausible,“ though it did not outright support it. The split panel determined the state law’s ambiguity and lack of case law left the legality open to interpretation.
“The Montana Legislature has made clear that it enacted its state license to comply with federal law, and it did so by directly licensing individuals by statute, rather than by delegating authority to separate state or local agencies,” Judge VanDyke wrote. “Because Congress did not make a clear statement prohibiting Montana’s decision to act, the legislature, rather than through delegated authority other than state officials, Metcalf’s proffered interpretation finds support.”
“Our decision is a narrow one. Metcalf was the first, and to our knowledge, only person in Montana to have raised the license exception in response to a charge for violating the Gun-Free School Zones Act,” Judge VanDyke continued. “Metcalf lacked the appropriate notice to be convicted of violating the Gun-Free School Zones Act. Affirming Metcalf’s conviction would be inconsistent with the principles of fair notice and of not punishing innocent conduct.”
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Judge VanDyke today? You can let him know at:
The Honorable Lawrence VanDyke
Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Bruce R. Thompson U.S. Courthouse
400 South Virginia Street
Reno, NV 89501
