Supreme Court Unanimously Limits Federal Gun Ban on Marijuana Users

A unanimous court draws a new line on guns and drugs

The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 on Thursday that the federal government violated the Second Amendment when it prosecuted Ali Danial Hemani, a Texas man who regularly smoked marijuana, for illegal gun possession.abcnews +1 Writing for the court, Justice Neil Gorsuch said the government sought to "automatically strip Mr. Hemani of his Second Amendment right to possess a firearm" and imprison him for up to 15 years based solely on a showing that he "regularly uses any amount of any controlled substance."scotusblog The decision limits — though does not invalidate — the 1968 Gun Control Act's prohibition on gun possession by anyone who is "an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance."reuters

Hemani's case began in 2022, when FBI agents searched his home in Denton County and found a Glock 19 9mm pistol, roughly 60 grams of marijuana, and 4.7 grams of cocaine.scotusblog He told authorities he smoked marijuana approximately every other day, though he was not accused of being under the influence at the time of the search.reuters A federal district judge dismissed the charge, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that dismissal in 2025, and the Supreme Court affirmed on Thursday.nbcnews

How Gorsuch drew the historical line

The court's reasoning turned on the test established in the 2022 Bruen decision, which requires gun restrictions to be grounded in the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation.scotusblog The government argued that early American laws disarming "habitual drunkards" provided a close enough analogy. Gorsuch rejected the comparison on three grounds: those laws targeted people "practically incapacitated" by alcohol, not anyone who regularly uses an intoxicant; they were aimed at curbing disorder rather than categorizing people as violent; and they required some form of legal process — a trial or bond hearing — before any rights were stripped.scotusblog

He illustrated the government's overreach with examples raised at oral argument: a spouse who occasionally takes a partner's prescription Ambien, or a college student who borrows a friend's Adderall, could also be prosecuted under the government's theory.scotusblog

A narrow ruling with outsized consequences

Gorsuch framed Thursday's opinion as deliberately limited, declining to address whether the government could prosecute drug addicts or someone whose specific drug use made them demonstrably dangerous.nbcnews +1 Other firearms restrictions — including the felony ban — were untouched. Justices wrote separately across ideological lines: Thomas argued the statute exceeds Congress's commerce power; Jackson and Sotomayor called the Bruen framework "unworkable"; Alito and Kagan concurred on narrower grounds.scotusblog

The ACLU, which represented Hemani, said the court had sent "a strong message that the government cannot criminalize the conduct of large numbers of people by making categorical and unfounded assumptions."nbcnews The ruling arrives as the Trump administration has already reclassified marijuana to a lower federal schedule — a policy shift Gorsuch cited as the government's own acknowledgment that marijuana users are not categorically dangerous.reuters +1