Law at the center of United States v. Hemani cannot be used to automatically disarm a person who regularly uses marijuana, the Supreme Court said in a unanimous decision authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch.
The case arose after FBI agents searched Ali Danial Hemani’s Texas home in 2022 and found a Glock 19 9mm pistol, 60 grams of marijuana, and 4.7 grams of cocaine, according to court filings.
Hemani told agents he used marijuana approximately every other day, and he was indicted under a federal statute that makes it a felony for anyone who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance to possess a firearm, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
District Judge Amos Mazzant granted Hemani’s request to dismiss the charge, relying on a Fifth Circuit ruling that the statute is unconstitutional when applied without proof the defendant was intoxicated while possessing a weapon, and the appeals court upheld that dismissal in a brief unsigned opinion.
Gorsuch wrote that the government asked the court to conclude that anyone who regularly uses marijuana is categorically violent and dangerous, a stance the opinion said conflicts with federal and state shifts in marijuana policy and the government’s own reclassification steps.
Implications And Reactions
The opinion was narrow, Gorsuch noted, and did not invalidate the statute across the board or address prosecutions of drug addicts or those proven to be intoxicated when possessing a gun, nor did it affect other federal firearms restrictions such as disarming convicted felons.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote separately to argue the law itself is unconstitutional because Congress lacks the power to regulate firearm possession solely for past interstate travel of the weapon, the court’s records show.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Sonia Sotomayor, said the court’s historical test is unworkable and risks inconsistent outcomes, while Justice Samuel Alito joined by Elena Kagan agreed the result was correct though he differed on reasoning.
The Justice Department had defended the law and argued Congress may restrict gun possession by habitual drug users, a position supported in filings by the Brady Center and Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the record shows.
Giffords senior litigation attorney Leigh Rome said the decision still allows reasonable categorical prohibitions on firearms ownership, while the ACLU, which co‑represented Hemani, praised the ruling for protecting millions who report marijuana use, the organizations said.
The court noted roughly 300 people are charged under the statute each year, according to Justice Department estimates, and the decision does not resolve other pending Second Amendment disputes that the justices are considering.
