Justice Clarence Thomas (news - web sites) said the appeals court was wrong. Under the law, judicial review was allowed only after an actual denial by the ATF, Thomas said. He said judicial review cannot occur without a decision by the agency. Thomas rejected Bean's argument that the government's inability to act amounted to a denial of his request.
Thomas fails the sanity test with this argument. SCOTUS is supposed to resolve Catch-22s, not validate them.
Perhaps Clarence was having a bad day. Maybe his wife gave him too much bacon and eggs that morning! (Just kidding, Julianne Malveaux!)