Garrett Kajmowicz v. Matthew Whitaker
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · No. 21-2434 · 42 F.4th 138
👎Unfavorable to gun rights
left the federal bump stock rule in force, resolving the case on ratification grounds without reaching the appointment question or the rule's substance
GunMapUSA assessment of the outcome's direction, not a statement that the court decided rightly or wrongly.
What the court held
Garrett Kajmowicz argued that ATF's bump-stock rule was invalid because Matthew Whitaker, who promulgated it as Acting Attorney General, had been designated in violation of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and the Appointments Clause. The Third Circuit affirmed dismissal without deciding the legality of Whitaker's designation, holding that Attorney General Barr's later ratification cured any defect because the FVRA's anti-ratification provision reaches only functions a statute requires the Attorney General alone to perform, and the ATF Director had long held delegated authority to issue rules of this kind.
Summarized from the court's opinion.
What this case is about
validity of the ATF rule classifying bump stocks as machineguns
GunMapUSA summary of the issue, not a quotation from the court.
Key Dates
- 2022-07-21 — Decided
Sources
- CourtListener — retrieved 2026-08-08
Summary of public court records. Not legal advice.