Supreme Court rules for marijuana user charged under same gun law as Hunter Biden

Guns in AmericaSupreme Court rules government cannot restrict gun rights for casual drug useThe justices cast a blow against a federal law that bars users of illegal drugs from possessing firearms. President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was convicted under the same law.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00The law at issue makes it a crime for any person who is "an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance" to possess a firearm.Charly Triballeau / AFP via Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJune 18, 2026, 10:08 AM EDT / Updated June 18, 2026, 10:52 AM EDTBy Lawrence HurleyWASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday barred the government from restricting the gun rights of casual drug users in a case involving a Texas man who occasionally consumed marijuana.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.On a 9-0 vote, the court concluded that the government’s invocation of the law fell afoul of the Constitution's Second Amendment when it was used against Ali Danial Hemani.The law makes it a crime for any person who is “an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance” to possess a firearm. It is the same statute that Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, was convicted under in June 2024 before his father pardoned him.Federal prosecutors brought the charges against Hemani after the FBI found a handgun during a search of his home in 2022. The ruling authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch does not invalidate the law across the board, but it makes it harder for prosecutors to invoke it, especially as it relates to casual drug users.Gorsuch wrote that the ruling is a “narrow one,” which does not address broader issues raised about banning drug addicts from possessing firearms.The court rejected the federal government’s claim that anyone who uses marijuana is a danger to others, all based on the government’s own assessment, he added.“We appreciate drugs a...