Washington– The Supreme Court on Monday appeared likely to relax a federal law that bars marijuana users from owning guns in a case that crossed the usual political lines.
The majority of justices appeared to be leaning toward a narrow ruling in favor of a Texas man who said he should not be charged with a crime simply because he owned a gun and smoked marijuana several times a week.
The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to revive a criminal case against Ali Danial Himani under a law that prohibits all illegal drug users from possessing weapons. But liberal and conservative justices seemed skeptical.
“What is the government’s evidence that using marijuana several times a week makes a person dangerous?” said conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
The Trump administration has asked the court to strike down other gun control laws in the past, but Chief Deputy Solicitor General Sarah Harris defended the illegal drug abuse law as a reasonable measure to keep firearms from potentially dangerous people.
However, Justice Neil Gorsuch noted that an increasing number of states have legalized cannabis, even though it remains illegal at the federal level. “What are we going to do with the fact that marijuana is more or less illegal, and the federal government itself is conflicted about this?” Justice Neil Gorsuch said.
He was part of the conservative majority court that expanded gun rights through a landmark case in 2022 known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruin. The court said any laws relating to weapons must have a strong basis in the country’s historical traditions. Liberal-leaning Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson said a ban on firearms for cannabis users did not appear to have strong historical roots. “I think your argument kind of falls apart under the Bruin test,” she said.
The government referred to the historical laws that prevented “alcoholics” from possessing weapons, and described this as clear historical evidence in favor of the law.
But Hemani’s attorney, Erin Murphy, said those laws were reserved for extreme cases of people who were almost constantly drunk.
There are many contemporary cannabis users who take gummies regularly as a sleep aid, for example, and are very capable of making safe decisions about firearms, Murphy said.
The issue presented some unusual political alliances. The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Rifle Association supported Hemani’s cause, as did cannabis legalization groups like NORML. On the other side were gun safety groups like Everytown, which typically finds itself on the opposite side of the Trump administration on Second Amendment issues.
However, some judges appeared concerned that Hemani’s sentence might allow more gun possession by people who use more dangerous drugs, or require courts more often to make in-depth considerations about the level of danger posed by a particular substance.
“It seems to me that this requires a somewhat cavalier approach to the necessary consideration of expertise and judgment that we leave to Congress and the executive branch,” Chief Justice John Roberts said.
The court is expected to decide the case by the end of next June.