The white man charged in the shooting deaths of nine black parishioners at a South Carolina church last year is competent to stand trial.
US District Judge Richard Gergel's decision clears the way for jury selection to restart on Monday in the trial of 22-year-old Dylann Roof.
The judge had delayed the process of narrowing the final jury pool on November 7 when Roof's lawyers suggested their client either didn't understand the charges against him or couldn't properly help them with his defence.
Roof is charged with hate crimes in connection with the June 17, 2015 attack at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.
He could face the death penalty if convicted.
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Gergel heard testimony from psychologist James Ballenger and four other unnamed witnesses and reviewed sworn statements from three others, the judge wrote in his order.
Roof also has already been found competent in state court, where prosecutors plan a second death penalty trial on nine counts of murder.
According to police, Roof sat through nearly an hour of prayer and Bible study at the church with its pastor and 11 others before pulling out a gun near the end of the class and firing dozens of shots.
Roof hurled racial insults at the six women and three men he is charged with of killing and the three people left alive, authorities said.
He said he left the three unharmed so they could tell the world the shootings were because he hated black people.
