Supreme Court

SCOTUS Says Federal Prosecution of Marijuana-Using Gun Owner Violates the Second Amendment

A landmark win for the right to keep and bear arms in United States v. Hemani.

Damon Root | 6.18.2026 12:15 PM

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(Ali Hemani/cunyclear.org/Marielam1/Envato/Adani Samat)

Until today, the federal law that prohibits "unlawful users" of controlled substances from possessing a gun was generally understood to cover all unlawful users of marijuana. But in a landmark decision issued this morning, the U.S. Supreme Court found the federal prosecution of a gun-possessing marijuana user to be in violation of that man's Second Amendment rights.

The decision came in the case of United States v. Hemani. "We do not question that sometimes an individual's unlawful use of marijuana (or any other controlled substance) may render him a danger to others," observed the majority opinion of........

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