In late June, the federal District Court for Northern Texas ruled decisively and completely in favor of Mountain States and our clients in VanDerStok v. Garland, an important MSLF Center to Keep & Bear Arms case. The case centers around a final rule of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that would redefine the term “firearm” to incorporate non-firearm objects and seriously hurt the right of peaceable Americans to keep and bear arms. The rule exceeded the ATF’s authority given to them by Congress, and the judge agreed. That victory by the district court is a major win for the Second Amendment!
After its defeat, the ATF asked the district court to stay (that is, delay) its decision until the ATF could fully appeal the decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The district judge denied a stay, but granted the ATF time to ask the Fifth Circuit to stay the decision. The Fifth Circuit also refused to stay the decision, but likewise granted the ATF time to ask the Supreme Court to stay the decision.
Today, speaking on behalf of the whole Supreme Court, Justice Samuel Alito notified Mountain States that the high court agreed to stay the district court’s decision and thus keep the ATF’s unconstitutional rule in place until the appeals process was complete. However, Justices Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh all dissented from the Supreme Court’s decision to stay.
The ATF’s exhaustive appealing to stay the decision is ultimately futile. We are confident that the Fifth Circuit will deny appeal by the ATF and will uphold the district court’s ruling. The ATF will appeal the issue to the Supreme Court, and we are confident that when the Supreme Court is faced with truly deciding this case, the justices will finally rule in our favor as well. At the end of the day, the outcome will be the same: victory for Mountain States, victory for our clients, and victory for the right to keep and bear arms.
