The Supreme Court sided with the federal government’s effort to regulate so-called ghost gun kits for making untraceable weapons.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion for seven justices upholding federal regulation, over dissent from Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
During Joe Biden’s presidency, the federal government argued that its regulation complied with federal law and was necessary because the weapons were increasingly being used in crimes. Challengers to the regulation, including gun rights groups and companies, claimed the government action exceeded the authority of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The regulation didn’t seek to ban ghost guns but rather to regulate them like regular firearms, meaning that they need serial numbers, licensed dealers and background checks.
And though it’s a gun-related case, it didn’t call for interpreting the Second Amendment.
Explaining the issue, Gorsuch noted that the federal Gun Control Act regulates firearms sales, and this case posed the question of whether the act also applies to people who make and sell the kits at issue. In reaching the majority ruling, the Trump appointee wrote that the relevant ATF rule isn’t “facially inconsistent” with the act.
Three of the justices who joined Gorsuch’s opinion — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson — each wrote concurring opinions. Alito and Thomas each wrote their own dissents, with Thomas writing that the majority “blesses the Government’s overreach based on a series of errors regarding both the standard of review and the interpretation of the statute.”
During an earlier phase of the litigation, the court split 5-4 in allowing the regulation pending a final resolution, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett in the majority alongside the court’s three Democratic appointees, over the dissent of the remaining four Republican appointees.
Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the Supreme Court and developments in Donald Trump’s legal cases.
