Supreme Court to hear challenge to law barring drug users from guns
The Supreme Court said Monday it will decide whether a federal law that bars habitual users of illegal drugs from possessing guns violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
The Trump administration, which generally supports gun rights, opposes the gun owner in this case. The administration asked the justices to reverse a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that found the federal law unconstitutional in most cases.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in filings that “courts should exercise utmost vigilance” in protecting the right to bear arms but that there are “narrow circumstances” when restrictions are justified. The law results in hundreds of prosecutions each year, Sauer said.
One of those was against Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, who was convicted of violating the gun ban in 2024. Joe Biden later pardoned his son.
“By disqualifying only habitual users of illegal drugs from possessing firearms, the statute imposes a limited, inherently temporary restriction—one which the individual can remove at any time simply by ceasing his unlawful drug use,” Sauer wrote.
The case is the second significant gun case the court has added to its docket this term. Earlier this month, the high court agreed to hear a challenge to a Hawaii law that prohibits people from carrying guns onto another person’s private property without that person’s consent. The Trump administration is backing the challengers in that case.
The new case stems from a federal prosecution in Texas involving a man named Ali Danial Hemani. Authorities allege they found a Glock pistol in Hemani’s home, along with marijuana and cocaine. They say text messages from Hemani’s phone indicate he was a drug dealer and a habitual user.
A grand jury indicted Hemani on a charge of possessing a firearm while using drugs, but Hemani argued the law violated his rights under the Second Amendment. A federal judge ruled for Hemani and tossed the charge in his case. That decision was upheld by the 5th Circuit. The Trump administration then filed its appeal with the Supreme Court.
The 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court has mostly ruled for increasing gun rights in recent years. Most notably, the court found in 2022 that any restrictions on firearms must be consistent with the nation’s “history and tradition.”
The ruling has led to a slew of challenges to gun restrictions. Sauer wrote that the ban on drug users possessing firearms is rooted in American history, citing analogous laws that put restraints on “habitual drunkards” during the nation’s early days.
In another major ruling in 2024, the Supreme Court upheld a federal law that prevents people who are subject to domestic violence restraining orders from having firearms.
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