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Are 'Ghost Gun' Rules Imperiled by Change in Administrations?

Crime and Justice News

Despite signs at last month's oral arguments that the Supreme Court might side with the Biden administration's rules to regulate otherwise untraceable "ghost guns," the incoming Trump administration could rescind the requirement that guns made from kits must have serial numbers and owners must pass background checks, USA Today reports. It’s likely to be months before the justices issue their opinion. And before they do, a Trump Justice Department could tell the court its position has changed. “Obviously, we’re very worried because of the major public safety and public health concerns," Douglas Letter, chief legal officer at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said of how President-elect Donald Trump's victory could affect the case. The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment about positions the incoming administration may take on issues before the court.


During the first Trump administration, the Justice Department early on reversed its previous positions when arguing four high-profile cases involving the purging of voter rolls, labor protections, union fees and the enforcement authority of Securities and Exchange Commission judges. The reversals were “abrupt and appeared strikingly at odds with institutional norms,” Michael Dreeben, a former deputy solicitor general wrote in a 2021 analysis for the Yale Law Journal. That prompted speculation that the justices would look askance at the side switching. In fact, Dreeben noted, the court sided with Trump’s Justice Department in all four cases. When President Joe Biden took office, the Justice Department reversed position on a challenge to the Affordable Care Act. The Trump administration had backed Texas’ effort to dismantle the law. The Supreme Court ultimately found that Texas couldn’t show it had been sufficiently harmed by the law and dismissed the challenge without deciding the underlying constitutional issue. The Biden administration also ended Trump immigration policies that were being litigated all the way up to the Supreme Court.

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A daily report co-sponsored by Arizona State University, Criminal Justice Journalists, and the National Criminal Justice Association

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