June 7 (UPI) — The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal Monday from a St. Louis couple, over the possible suspension of their law licenses, after they pointed guns at a 2020 protest outside their home.
Mark and Patricia McCloskey gained national attention nearly two years ago for aiming an AR-15 and a handgun at Black Lives Matters protesters as they marched in front of their house. Mark McCloskey, who is a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, said he was “in imminent fear they would run me over, kill me.”
Protesters said the demonstration was peaceful and that none of the protesters were armed or caused any damage.
In their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court last month, the McCloskeys argued that any punishment was a violation of their Second Amendment rights and their rights to due process because they were “exercising lawful rights to bear arms in defense of the person, family and home.”
Mark McCloskey, a personal injury attorney, pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor assault charge, while his wife Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment in Missouri Supreme Court. They were also ordered to forfeit their weapons.
Missouri Gov. Michael Parson pardoned the McCloskeys, but the state’s Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel asked the Missouri Supreme Court to suspend the couple’s law licenses over their criminal convictions.
The Supreme Court of Missouri stayed the suspensions in February and placed the two lawyers on probation for one year while also requiring 100 hours of free legal services.
