The U.S. Department of Justice plans to drop an appeal of a district judge’s ruling that a postal worker’s constitutional rights were violated when he was arrested for carrying a gun into a Tampa post office.
The Justice Department on Friday filed a notice at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and a letter with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., that said it would not continue pursuing an appeal in the case of Emmanuel Ayala.
Federal prosecutors went to the Atlanta-based appeals court last year after U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle wrote that a historical basis did not exist for banning guns in post offices and dismissed the charge of carrying a firearm in a federal facility.
Ayala, a semi-truck driver for the postal service who had a state concealed-weapons license, was arrested after he reported to work Sept. 14, 2022, while wearing a fanny pack that contained a gun, according to court documents. He also was charged with resisting arrest.
Ayala said he carried the gun for self-defense and argued that prohibiting him from carrying it into the federal building violated the Second Amendment.
Mizelle issued a 53-page ruling in January 2024 that dismissed the gun charge, in part citing a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in a case known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen that focused on analyzing the “historical tradition” of firearms regulation when deciding if laws violated the Second Amendment.
Mizelle, who was nominated to the federal bench by President Donald Trump during his first term, wrote that “even if a proper purpose exists, it still remains unclear why restricting firearms in government buildings, rather than private buildings or public spaces generally, would uniquely promote public safety. Public safety concerns were not unknown to the (nation’s) founders. Yet such concerns were not addressed through sweeping bans on firearms possession. Just the opposite.”
But in appealing last year, Justice Department attorneys pointed to what they said were the Supreme Court’s “repeated assurances about the government’s settled authority to regulate firearms in government buildings” considered “sensitive places.”
“The (Supreme) Court has said many times in many ways that the Second Amendment does not call into question settled firearm prohibitions in government buildings,” the brief said. “The district court’s carve-out of a post-office exception conflicts with each of those opinions.”
The Justice Department appealed Mizelle’s ruling during the Biden administration, while it is now part of the Trump administration.
Friday’s notice to the appeals court and the letter to Johnson did not detail the Justice Department’s reasons for deciding to change its position and drop the appeal. The letter to Johnson noted that the resisting-arrest charge against Ayala remains pending.
“Dismissing the appeal would enable the district court to resolve that charge promptly, while pursuing the appeal could significantly prolong this litigation,” the letter said. “The department has determined that, in these circumstances, continuing to pursue the appeal is not appropriate use of prosecutorial resources.”
