Supreme Court narrows gun ban for illegal drug users in 9-0 ruling
What's new: The justices left room to disarm addicts or people carrying guns while intoxicated, but rejected a broader ban on regular users.
The Supreme Court unanimously limited the federal government’s use of a gun law that bars unlawful drug users from possessing firearms, ruling that its application in a Texas marijuana case violated the Second Amendment. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that prosecutors had not shown Ali Hemani was addicted, armed while intoxicated or dangerous, and relied mainly on his admission that he used marijuana about every other day. The court said historical restrictions on “habitual drunkards” were too different to justify the modern ban as applied here. The ruling was narrow and did not block efforts to disarm addicts or people currently under the influence. The law had also been used in the prosecution of Hunter Biden.