Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, took the rare step of appearing before a federal appeals court in a key Second Amendment case even though the DOJ is not a party to the lawsuit. The case is Barnett v. Raoul, a National Rifle Association-backed challenge to Illinois’ ban on semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity magazines. In a five-minute appearance before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit on Monday, Dhillon argued against the 2023 Illinois law signed by Gov. I just find it difficult to believe that the same statute could be constitutional in northern Illinois but not in southern Illinois,” he added. “And it is a challenge.”The Illinois Attorney General’s office, headed by Democrat Kwame Raoul, defended the ban.