The American people should consider themselves truly fortunate that Joe Biden has terrible lawyers at the Justice Department. They really are awful. Other than one victory on social media censorship earlier this year, we can’t think of another Supreme Court case they’ve won in four years. They got their tails kicked again this week during oral arguments on Biden’s ATF “ghost gun” ban.

The illegal and unconstitutional “ghost gun” ban is ATF Final Rule 2021-05F. The rule bans partially completed pistol frames and other parts that gunsmithing hobbyists use to build their own firearms. You may recognize gunsmithing hobbyists as those firearms experts who never commit violent crimes or mass shootings. Seriously, when’s the last time you ever heard of a gunsmithing hobbyist who committed any gun crime?

Anyway, Justice Samuel Alito asked Merrick Garland’s DOJ lawyers if his blank pad and pen were a grocery list. They said no since the pad and pen can be used for other things.

Then he asked them if he set some eggs, ham, peppers, and onions on the counter—does he have a western omelet? Once again, the government lawyers answered no.

It’s fairly obvious that the parts of a thing are not the whole thing, but that’s the logical pretzel that the ATF always twists itself into when it tries to ban gun parts, whether you’re talking about bump stocks or receivers.

Right as it was occurring to the DOJ lawyers that their arguments were incredibly stupid, Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch also jumped in. Clarence Thomas didn’t even dignify the proceeding by asking any questions.

The so-called “ghost gun” ban is an annoyance, but it looks very clear from oral arguments that this is another Biden administration policy that will soon end up on the trash heap.