1968 Gun Control Act

Supreme Court unanimously strikes down federal ban on gun possession for marijuana users

The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 on Thursday that the federal government cannot prosecute a Texas man for possessing a firearm while being a marijuana user, finding that the 1968 Gun Control Act provision violates the Second Amendment.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority in United States v. Hemani, dismantled the government's defense of the statute with a withering historical analysis, and an unforgettable detour into the drinking habits of the Founding Fathers.

The decision marks the latest expansion of Second Amendment protections since the Court's landmark 2022 Bruen ruling and lands squarely on a fault line where gun rights, drug policy, and federal overreach collide.

It also produced one of the more unusual political coalitions in recent memory: the NRA and the ACLU lined up on the same side, both opposing the restriction, while the administration found itself defending a law that gun-rights advocates have long viewed as constitutionally suspect.

Ali Hemani, the defendant at the center of the case, was charged after the FBI searched his family's home in Texas and found a Glock 9mm pistol, 60 grams of marijuana, and a small amount of cocaine. The federal statute, Section 922(g)(3), forbids any unlawful drug user from possessing a firearm. A violation is a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Hemani faced prosecution not because he used the weapon, not because he threatened anyone, but because he owned a gun while being a regular marijuana user.

Every justice on the bench agreed: that's not enough under the Constitution.

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