Last week, former Solicitor General under the Bush Administration Paul Clement and Erin Murphy, his long-time colleague from the Solicitor General's office and in private practice, achieved perhaps the most significant victory at the Supreme Court under the Second Amendment in recent history.  The two successfully convinced the Supreme Court in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen to strike down New York's requirement that individuals must show "proper cause" before being able to obtain a concealed carry weapons permit. 

Yet after Clement and Murphy won at the Supreme Court in this historic decision, the two almost immediately resigned from Kirkland and Ellis, LLP, the world's top law firm in which both were partners.  While this may come as a surprise, strife between Kirkland and Ellis and the dynamic duo shows this decision was inevitable. 

In his resignation letter, Clement explained that the firm told him and Murphy that they needed to either drop out of existing representation of gun litigation clients or leave the firm. Clement and Murphy considered it wrong to drop their clients just because some of the legal establishment did not like the clients. In turn, the two [] resigned and announced they will start their own firm.