Supreme Court's Bold Move: What This 9-0 Ruling Means for Gun Rights and Marijuana Users

The Supreme Court on Thursday narrowed the government’s ability to prosecute people who use marijuana for possessing firearms, siding unanimously with a Texas man in a decision that marks the latest expansion of Second Amendment protections.

The decision in U.S. v. Hemani is a setback for the Trump administration, which defended the restriction even as it has sought to roll back other gun limits. The same law was used in the high-profile case against Hunter Biden, who was convicted of illegally purchasing a firearm while addicted to drugs before being pardoned.

The ruling adds to a growing body of firearm decisions reshaping U.S. gun law. Since 2022, the court has struck down a federal ban on bump stocks while upholding other measures, including restrictions tied to domestic violence and ghost gun kits.

Newsweek has reached out to the Department of Justice via email on Thursday morning for comment.

What is United States v. Hemani?

In a 9-0 ruling, the justices held that applying a longstanding federal law to Ali Danial Hemani—based solely on his admitted marijuana use—violated the Constitution. The law, part of the 1968 Gun Control Act, makes it a crime for anyone who is an “unlawful user” of a controlled substance to own a gun. But the court found that using it to prosecute a person who was not accused of being intoxicated or dangerous at the time went too far.

Writing for the court, conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch said the government failed to show that disarming a regular marijuana user aligns with the nation’s historical traditions of firearm regulation—the test the court adopted in a 2022 landmark ruling expanding gun rights. The opinion does not strike down the statute outright, but it raises the bar for future prosecutions, signaling that authorities may need to show a clearer link between drug use and dangerous behavior.

“We do not address efforts to ban addicts, or those presently intoxicated, from possessing a firearm,” Gorsuch wrote. "Prosecutors could potentially still charge a marijuana user, if they had evidence the person was dangerous."

The case reflects shifting attitudes toward cannabis. Marijuana is now legal in some form in a majority of states, though it remains illegal federally, creating tension in laws that treat all users as prohibited gun owners.

“Whatever one thinks of these developments, the federal government has not just tolerated them; it helped fuel them,” Gorsuch continued. “All of which leaves it awkwardly positioned to suggest that the millions of Americans who now regularly use marijuana are categorically and unusually dangerous.”

Unlikely Allies Unite Over Gun Rights for Marijuana Users

The dispute also produced unusual political alliances. Civil liberties groups like the ACLU joined gun-rights advocates, including the National Rifle Association (NRA), in backing Hemani, while some gun-control organizations supported the federal government’s position.

Cecillia Wang, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement shared with Newsweek via email that the “unanimous 9-0 decision makes it clear” the government cannot treat marijuana use alone as grounds to strip people of their constitutional right to own a gun. She added the ruling sends “a strong message” that officials may not criminalize large groups based on broad assumptions about danger, emphasizing that such categorical restrictions risk being “unfounded” and discriminatory.

Wang noted that with millions of Americans having used marijuana, the decision helps safeguard the rights of a wide swath of the public while curbing what she described as the government’s ability to impose arbitrary penalties based purely on drug use.

Who is Ali Hemani?

Hemani’s case began with a 2022 FBI search of his family home in Texas, part of a broader investigation that was not ultimately charged. During that search, agents found a handgun along with marijuana and other substances, and Hemani cooperated by identifying both the weapon and the drugs. The government did not accuse him of being intoxicated at the time or using the firearm in connection with any criminal activity; the case rested solely on his status as a regular marijuana user.

Violations can carry significant penalties, even when no other criminal conduct is alleged, and Hemani’s indictment depended entirely on his admitted marijuana use rather than any evidence of dangerous behavior.

Hemani, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Pakistan, challenged the charge in federal court, arguing that applying the law to him violated the Second Amendment. His legal team pointed to the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision setting a stricter standard for gun laws, requiring the government to show that modern restrictions are consistent with historical firearm regulations. Lower courts agreed with Hemani, finding that while historical laws sometimes restricted gun access for people who were actively intoxicated, they did not support disarming someone based solely on past or occasional drug use.

The case reached the Supreme Court after the Justice Department appealed those rulings, seeking to preserve the federal statute’s broad application.

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