US Supreme Court to Consider Whether People Who Regularly Smoke Marijuana Can Legally Own Guns
WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court said Monday it will consider whether people who regularly smoke marijuana can legally own guns, the latest firearms case to come before the court since its 2022 ruling expanding gun rights.
President Donald Trump’s administration has sought a reopening of the case against a Texas man charged with a felony for allegedly keeping a gun in his home and admitting to regular marijuana use. The Justice Department appealed after a lower court largely struck down a law banning people who use illegal drugs from owning guns.
Discussions will likely take place in early 2026, with a decision likely to be reached by early summer.
The Republican administration supports Second Amendment rights, but government lawyers have argued the ban is a justified restriction.
They requested the court to reopen the case against Ali Danial Hemani. His lawyers dropped the felony charge after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the blanket ban was unconstitutional under the Supreme Court’s expanded view on gun rights. But appellate judges found that the method could still be used against people accused of being drunk and armed at the same time.
Hemani’s lawyers argue that the sweeping law puts millions of people at risk of technical violations because at least 20% of Americans have tried marijuana, according to government health data. About half of the states have legalized recreational marijuana, but it remains illegal under federal law.
The Justice Department argues that the law applies when used against regular drug users because it poses a serious public safety risk. The government said the FBI found guns and cocaine during a search of Hemani’s home while investigating alleged travel and communications linked to Iran. But the gun charge was only related to the gun, and his lawyers said the other allegations were unfounded and were only mentioned to make him seem more dangerous.
This case marks another flashpoint in the application of the Supreme Court’s new test for firearm restrictions. The conservative majority found in 2022 that the Second Amendment generally gives people the right to carry guns in public for self-defense and that firearm restrictions must have a strong foundation in the nation’s history.
The landmark 2022 decision led to a series of challenges to firearms laws across the country, but judges have since upheld a different federal law aimed at protecting victims of domestic violence by banning guns from people under restraining orders.
