Supreme Court Questions Federal Ban on Guns for Marijuana Users in Hemani Oral Argument
The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments today in United States v. Hemani, a major Second Amendment case asking whether a federal law that bans drug users from possessing guns is constitutional. The outcome could reshape federal gun eligibility rules nationwide.
At the center is 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), a statute that makes it a felony for “unlawful user[s] of…controlled substance[s]” to own firearms — including people who use marijuana. The Biden-era Justice Department and gun-control groups have urged the Court to uphold the law as a public-safety measure consistent with historical practice.
The case stems from the prosecution of Texas resident Ali Danial Hemani, who admitted to regular marijuana use and was charged after a Glock pistol and cannabis were found in his home. Lower courts, including the Fifth Circuit, held the ban unconstitutional as applied to cannabis users.
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But the government argues the prohibition reflects a tradition of disarming persons deemed dangerous and should be upheld under the Court’s 2022 Bruen test.
Legal briefs show rare alliances: civil liberties and gun rights groups argue the statute is vague and far broader than historical analogues, while gun-control groups back the government’s public-safety rationale.
Justice Department lawyer D. John Sauer defended the statute’s consistency with historical firearm restrictions.
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The stakes are high: a ruling for Hemani could narrow the government’s ability to bar gun rights based solely on past drug use, while a decision for the government could preserve broad prohibitions for millions. Decisions from oral argument questioning may foreshadow the justices’ thinking, but the Court will not issue a decision until later in the term.
What happens next is that the justices will confer and issue a written decision by June, with millions of Americans watching how drug policy and gun rights intersect.
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