ATF’s Top Lawyer Leaves Agency
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Director Robert Cekada announced Friday that ATF Chief Counsel Robert Leider was stepping down from the agency.
Harold Hutchison · Nov 2, 2026 · 2 min read
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Director Robert Cekada announced Friday that ATF Chief Counsel Robert Leider was stepping down from the agency.
Leider, who assisted in unveiling sweeping regulatory reforms with ATF, including new guidance on items covered by the National Firearms Act in an effort to comply with an August federal court decision that struck down registration requirements for items whose taxes had been reduced to $0. Cekada praised Leider in a Friday evening post on X.
“Today, I accepted the resignation of ATF Chief Counsel Robert Leider,” Cekada said. “Robert has been a trusted advisor and has ably led ATF’s legal and policy work, strengthening the agency’s operations in countless ways. We are grateful for his service and wish him the very best as he returns to George Mason University, which is fortunate to have him back.”
Prior to serving as ATF’s top attorney, Leider was a professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, specializing in criminal law and torts. He previously had clerked for Circuit Judge Diana Sykes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas.
“Thank you @ATFDirectorRC for the kind words,” Leider posted. “I have greatly enjoyed serving the men and women of ATF and furthering the Administration’s efforts to protect the Second Amendment. Rob is a generational talent who is restoring ATF to its core mission while protecting 2A rights.”
No replacement for Leider has been named.
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All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].