Supreme Court hears case over gun rights for drug users

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in a case challenging the constitutionality of a federal law that bars illegal drug users from possessing firearms, a dispute that has created unlikely alliances between gun rights advocates and civil liberties groups.

The case, United States vs. Hemani, stems from the 2023 arrest of 25-year-old Ali Danial Hemani in Texas. He was charged with possessing a firearm as a drug user under the Gun Control Act of 1968, which prohibits firearm possession by individuals who are “unlawful users” of controlled substances.

The Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed following the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. The law has taken on renewed prominence after Hunter Biden, son of former President Joe Biden, was convicted under the same statute in 2024 before receiving a presidential pardon.

Solicitor General John Sauer, representing the government, argued in court documents that the law serves to disarm “dangerous persons,” contending that “habitual drug users” fall within that category. The Justice Department appealed to the Supreme Court after the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Hemani’s favor last year.

Hemani’s attorneys counter that the law unconstitutionally infringes on Second Amendment rights. “There is no historical tradition in this nation of stripping anyone who consumes an intoxicant a few times a week of the right to keep a firearm in the home for self-defense,” his legal team argued in court filings.

The defense also challenged the law’s vagueness, noting that millions of Americans use marijuana and it is now legal in 40 states, including 24 for recreational use. However, recreational marijuana remains illegal in Texas, where Hemani admitted to using the substance.

Hemani, a Pakistani-American, became the target of a law enforcement investigation due to regular communication with his brother, who was attending a university in Iran. During an FBI search of the home Hemani shared with his parents in the Dallas area, agents discovered a handgun in a locked safe and cocaine in his parents’ closet.

The case has drawn support from an unusual coalition including the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Rifle Association, and the Drug Policy Alliance.

The dispute highlights what sources describe as mixed messaging from the Trump administration on gun rights. While the Justice Department defends the drug user prohibition in court, Second Amendment advocates have expressed frustration that the administration has not taken a stronger stance against the law.

Lower courts remain divided over whether the restriction on gun ownership for frequent drug users violates the Second Amendment. The Supreme Court’s conservative 6-3 majority has generally supported gun rights, most notably in a 2022 ruling that recognized a right to bear arms outside the home. However, the justices appeared to moderate that approach two years later when they upheld a federal law prohibiting people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms.

Monday’s arguments mark the second gun case the Supreme Court is currently considering. In January, the justices heard challenges to a Hawaii law restricting firearms on certain private properties without permission.

A ruling in United States vs. Hemani is expected before the court’s term ends in late June.