U.S. Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Case Challenging Federal Firearms Ban for Cannabis Consumers

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments in the challenge to laws
prohibiting cannabis consumers from owning firearms. The government is
challenging a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision to toss felony
charges against Ali Daniel Hemani, a Texas man who allegedly possessed a
firearm and admitted to regular cannabis use. The circuit court had
dismissed the charges as a violation of Hemani’s 2nd Amendment rights,
citing a landmark 2022 Supreme Court ruling that broadly expanded citizens’
gun rights.

During the arguments, conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a member of
the majority in the 2022 case, questioned whether the law could be upheld
based on comparisons with historical laws that could temporarily disarm
“habitual drunkards,” according to an NBC News report. She noted that just
because some uses of a drug are illegal under federal law does not mean
that it renders the user dangerous. She questioned whether someone who
takes the sleeping aid Ambien or the anti-anxiety medication Xanax without
having a prescription, which would be illegal.

“Is it the government’s position that if I unlawfully use Ambien or I
unlawfully use Xanax, then I become dangerous? What is the government’s
evidence that using marijuana a couple times a week makes someone
dangerous?” — Barrett during oral arguments via NBC News

Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, another member of the 2022 majority,
also brought up the historical comparison with “habitual drunkards” in his
questioning of Principal Deputy Solicitor General Sarah Harris.

“John Adams took a tankard of hard cider with his breakfast every day,”
Gorsuch said during his remarks from the bench. “James Madison reportedly
drank a pint of whiskey every day. Thomas Jefferson said he wasn’t much of
a user of alcohol. He only had three or four glasses of wine a night.”

Gorsuch also wondered whether Hemani would even be considered a habitual
cannabis consumer because he only consumed cannabis a few days a week.

Chief Justice John Roberts seemed skeptical about ruling in Hemani’s favor,
considering that a favorable ruling could open the door to defendants to
challenge their prosecutions under the law on a drug-by-drug basis. He said
such a ruling “takes a fairly cavalier approach to the necessary
consideration of expertise and the judgments we leave to Congress and the
executive branch.”