The Biden administration is once again turning to the Supreme Court for relief after the Justice Department said an appeals court defied the high court's prior ruling upholding ghost gun regulations.
A three-judge panel for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday ruled President Joe Biden's bid to ban so-called ghost gun kits cannot be enforced on two unfinished gun part manufacturers. Justice Department lawyers filed an emergency application on Thursday, asking the justices to "vacate" the original district court's injunction against the regulations, which was subsequently stayed by a narrow 5-4 ruling on Aug. 8.
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"The district court and the Fifth Circuit have effectively countermanded this Court's authoritative determination about the status quo that should prevail during appellate proceedings in this case," DOJ Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote.
"In so doing, the lower courts openly relied on arguments that this Court had necessarily rejected to grant relief that this Court had withheld," she added.
The Supreme Court intervened in the case on behalf of the government in early August, granting an emergency stay of U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor's 2022 decision against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives rule. Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh said they would have denied the government's application for a stay.
But on Monday, the 5th Circuit panel made two major changes to the district court's decision from last year: It held the ghost gun regulations can't apply to a pair of plaintiff manufacturers and narrowed O'Connor's original ruling, finding he improperly extended the injunction to private citizens who purchase parts to make homemade guns.
“The party-plaintiff manufacturers would be irreparably harmed by being forced to shut down their companies or by being arrested pending judicial review of the Final Rule,” the panel wrote in the case known as VanderStock v. Garland.
The ATF regulations require creators or sellers of the kits to obtain a special license, mark products with traceable serial numbers, and conduct background checks while maintaining records. The rule attracted criticism from several pro-gun advocates and manufacturers who say the reclassification of parts kits as firearms is unconstitutional.
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Monday's 5th Circuit ruling marked a split decision for the Justice Department, which seeks to salvage the ATF rule in a bid to crack down on untraceable firearms, and a win for the plaintiff manufacturers attempting to save their business from the sweeping regulations.
O'Connor also ruled in a separate case on Monday regarding the ATF redefining pistols equipped with stabilizing braces as short-barrel rifles, requiring them to be registered with the agency, as likely unconstitutional, though he only narrowly extended that injunction to a few plaintiffs in the lawsuit. That case is Mock v. Garland.