“Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears” is a blog series documenting the harmful impact of President Trump’s judges on Americans’ rights and liberties. It includes judges nominated in both his first and second terms.
Trump Tenth Circuit judge Allison Eid cast the deciding vote to overturn a lower court ruling and enjoin a New Mexico law calling for a seven-day waiting period before any firearm purchase can be completed. George W Bush nominee Timothy Tymkovich wrote the opinion, and Obama nominee Scott Matheson dissented, in the August 2025 case of Ortega v Grisham.
What happened in this case?
In an effort to improve gun safety, New Mexico enacted in 2024 a law that requires a seven-day waiting period before the purchase of a firearm can be completed. Two gun owners, Samuel Ortega and Rebecca Scott, filed a federal court lawsuit claiming that the law violated their rights under the Second Amendment and sought a preliminary injunction against it.
The district court rejected the preliminary injunction request and ruled that the law was constitutional. Based on recent Tenth Circuit precedent in a minimum age requirement case, the court ruled that limits on the “right to acquire a firearm” do not impede the “right to keep or bear a firearm” under the Second Amendment, which permits waiting periods. Ortega and Scott appealed to the Tenth Circuit.
How did Tymkovich and Trump judge Eid rule and why is the result harmful?
Trump judge Eid made possible a 2-1 decision by Tymkovich that overruled the district court and held that the law likely violates the Second Amendment and should be enjoined. A waiting period mandate imposes a “burden” on the right to keep and bear arms, the majority maintained, and conflicts with the Second Amendment.
Judge Matheson strongly dissented. He relied largely on the recent Tenth Circuit decision upholding a minimum age requirement on gun purchase in the RMGO case. Like the age mandate in that case, he explained, the waiting period law only imposes “conditions and qualifications” on the purchase of arms and is “presumptively lawful” unless it is “employed for abusive ends,” which has not been shown here. In addition, he pointed out, “nearly a dozen” other states have adopted comparable waiting period requirements.
The ruling by Trump judge Eid and Judge Tymkovich, while not a final result, clearly harms the efforts of New Mexico to promote the important objective of gun safety, It threatens similar efforts particularly in the Tenth Circuit, which includes Utah, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming. In addition, the decision illustrates the importance of our federal courts to health, welfare and justice and the significance of having fair-minded judges on the federal bench.