The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with a Texas marijuana user in a gun-rights challenge to a federal law that bars drug users from owning firearms.
In a unanimous decision, the justices backed Ali Danial Hemani, who argued that the Gun Control Act violates the Second Amendment. Hemani, an American-Pakistani dual citizen and resident of Texas, was charged in 2023 following an FBI raid of the home he shared with his parents in Denton County.
Agents found a Glock 9mm pistol, marijuana and cocaine during the search. Hemani told police he used marijuana about every other day, though authorities did not accuse him of being intoxicated at the time of the search.
Hemani was charged under the 1968 federal law, which makes possession of a firearm illegal for anyone who “is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance.”
The Justice Department said in court papers that Hemani’s actions had drawn FBI attention, citing his travel to Iran and his brother’s attendance at an Iranian university, but Hemani’s indictment contained only the single charge under the Gun Control Act.
The justices upheld a lower court’s decision Thursday to dismiss his illegal gun possession charge brought under the law.
The decision is a loss for President Donald Trump’s Republican administration, which had defended the 1968 law despite arguing against other gun restrictions. The measure was also used in a case against Hunter Biden, who was convicted in Wilmington, Delaware, of buying a gun while addicted to cocaine in 2018. He was later pardoned by his father, then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat.
The opinion is the latest in a series of firearm cases to reach the Supreme Court since a landmark ruling expanding gun rights in 2022 led to a wave of challenges around the country.
Since then, the high court has upheld a law aimed at protecting victims of domestic violence and strict regulations on ghost gun kits but has struck down a ban on bump stocks, an accessory that enables rapid fire. The justices considered two firearm cases this term alone.
The legality and use of cannabis, meanwhile, has also shifted significantly in recent years. More than half of U.S. states have now legalized it broadly, and it’s gained widespread use for health purposes.
Recreational use remains illegal on a federal level, however, even after the Trump administration reclassified medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug in April.
It’s rare to see standalone criminal charges filed against people accused of owning guns and using drugs. The charge is more often filed against people also accused of other crimes.
The case made for some unusual political alliances. The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Rifle Association both supported Hemani’s case, as did cannabis legalization groups like NORML. On the other side were gun safety groups like Everytown that usually oppose the Trump administration on Second Amendment issues.
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