City of Chicago v. United States Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · No. 01-2167 · 423 F.3d 777
👍Favorable to gun rights
FOIA case, not a Second Amendment ruling; blocked public release of ATF gun-trace data and went against the city seeking it
GunMapUSA assessment of the outcome's direction, not a statement that the court decided rightly or wrongly.
What the court held
Chicago used FOIA to seek firearms trace and multiple-sales data from ATF databases, and had twice won disclosure orders in the Seventh Circuit. After Congress enacted the 2005 appropriations rider providing that such data "shall be immune from legal process," the court granted rehearing, vacated its prior opinions, reversed the district court, and directed entry of judgment for ATF. It held the rider was a substantive change in law that applies to this pending case, and rejected the city's separation-of-powers and First Amendment arguments, noting the First Amendment creates no right of access to government-held information.
Summarized from the court's opinion.
What this case is about
Freedom of Information Act access to ATF firearms sales and tracing databases
GunMapUSA summary of the issue, not a quotation from the court.
Key Dates
- 2005-09-12 — Decided
Sources
- CourtListener — retrieved 2026-08-08
Summary of public court records. Not legal advice.