ATF's Top Lawyer Robert Leider Resigns After Overseeing Gun Rule Overhaul

Robert Leider, the chief counsel at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who has overseen a major overhaul of the agency's firearms regulations, announced Friday he is stepping down, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.

Leider was appointed the ATF's top attorney last year, shortly after former Attorney General Pam Bondi abruptly fired the agency's then-chief, claiming without evidence that the bureau was 'targeting gun owners.' He previously clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The ATF released a short press statement announcing his resignation shortly after CBS News sought comment.

Under Leider, the agency worked through a set of proposals to rewrite its firearms rules. Among them was a plan to repeal a Biden-era 'engaged in the business' rule, which broadened the definition of who must obtain a firearms dealer license and run background checks. That rule was intended to prevent online sellers and sellers at gun shows from evading licensing requirements that would subject them to background checks.

Although Leider was a political appointee and a staunch supporter of Second Amendment rights, he did not always agree with Justice Department leadership on the legal positions it took in litigation brought against the ATF by pro-gun groups, multiple sources told CBS News previously.

One flashpoint came in September, when the Justice Department decided not to appeal a court ruling on the National Firearms Act. Sources told CBS News at the time that the decision was directed by President Trump and ran counter to the legal advice of numerous career and politically appointed Justice Department attorneys. A source familiar with the matter told CBS News that Leider's decision to step down was not related to that decision.

The ATF chief counsel's office advises the agency on how to write and defend its rules, so the departure leaves a gap at a delicate moment. Several of the proposed changes are still working through the rulemaking process, and the bureau will need a new top lawyer to defend them if gun-control groups challenge them in court.

Leider's tenure was short but consequential: he arrived as the administration moved to loosen rules it said burdened gun owners, and he leaves with that rewrite still unfinished.

No successor was named in the initial reports. The resignation adds to turnover at a bureau whose chief was fired last year.

Gun-rights groups and gun-safety advocates alike will be watching who fills the job, since the next chief counsel will help decide how aggressively the ATF defends the rules Leider helped build.