US Supreme Court rules govt cannot restrict gun rights for ‘casual’ drug use

The US Supreme Court on Thursday barred the government from restricting the gun rights of casual drug users in a case involving a Texas man who occasionally consumed marijuana. The court concluded in a majority 9-0 vote that the government’s invocation of the federal law that bars drug users from owning guns fell afoul of the Constitution’s Second Amendment when it was used against the petitioner Ali Danial Hemani.

The 1968 federal law called the Gun Control Act makes possession of a firearm illegal for anyone who “is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance.”

President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was convicted under the same law in June 2024 before his father pardoned him.

Federal prosecutors brought the charges against Hemani after the FBI found a handgun during a search of his home in 2022.

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Ruling does not invalidate the law completely but makes it harder to invoke it

The ruling authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch does not invalidate the law completely but makes it harder for prosecutors to invoke it, especially in the case of casual drug users.

Gorsuch wrote that the ruling is a “narrow one,” which does not address broader issues raised about banning drug addicts from possessing firearms.

The court rejected the federal government’s claim that anyone who uses marijuana is a danger to others, all based on the government’s own assessment, he added.

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Marijuana had long been listed as a Schedule I substance alongside heroin, ecstasy and peyote, implying it had high potential for abuse and no medical value.

But after Trump signed an executive order concerning marijuana, the Justice Department in April loosened restrictions on some marijuana products and reclassified the drug as less dangerous.

Marijuana legally available in many states, remains criminalised under federal law

“We appreciate drugs and guns can sometimes make for a dangerous mix,” Gorsuch wrote.

Millions of Americans regularly use marijuana, which is legally available in many states even as it remains criminalised under federal law.

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority often backs gun rights.

“The court has sent a strong message that the government cannot criminalise the conduct of large numbers of people by making categorical and unfounded assumptions about whether they are dangerous,” said Cecillia Wang, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents Hemani.

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Hemani successfully challenged his indictment first in Texas-based district court and then in the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

Prosecutors had alleged that Hemani, a dual citizen of the US and Pakistan, had ties with Iranian groups hostile to the US, but he faced no specific charges on that front.

FBI agents had found a handgun, marijuana and cocaine when they searched his home.

In another gun case before the court, the justices are considering the lawfulness of a Hawaii law that prevents people from carrying firearms onto certain private properties without permission.