Supreme Court Weighs Felony Conviction for Gun Owner Who Uses Marijuana

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court today held oral arguments in US v. Hemani, a case that will determine whether the government can incarcerate a marijuana user for possessing a firearm securely at home.

In 2023, the federal government charged Ali Hemani under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), which makes it a felony for someone who is an “unlawful user of” or “addicted to” a controlled substance to possess a firearm. Hemani was charged under this statute as an “unlawful user” based on his use of marijuana and the fact that he owned a firearm that was safely secured in his home.

“Millions of Americans use marijuana, often legally under state law. Anyone one of them who also owns a gun for self defense could be charged with a felony," said Cecillia Wang, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union. "This law violates the Second Amendment and puts far too much power in the hands of federal prosecutors, with the risk of arbitrary or discriminatory enforcement."

At the Supreme Court, Mr. Hemani’s defense team raised two constitutional arguments. First, that the statute is unconstitutionally vague because its plain text does not provide the degree of clarity required of criminal statutes and, therefore, invites overbroad and discriminatory enforcement. Second, that the law violates the Second Amendment when applied to individuals like Mr. Hemani because it inflicts substantial criminal penalties on marijuana users who exercise the fundamental right to firearms possession articulated by the Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller. Under the government’s theory, the open-ended language of 922(g)(3) gives it a blank check to strip a fundamental right from the tens of millions of Americans who consume marijuana, on pain of lengthy imprisonment. The Constitution demands more.

“Vague and overbroad laws like this one allow our government to arbitrarily impose criminal penalties,” said Zach Newland, principal attorney at Newland Legal. “Americans like Mr. Hemani deserve to clearly know when their fundamental Second Amendment rights are at risk. And they should not face up to fifteen years in federal prison for keeping a locked firearm in a gun safe at home and using marijuana.”

“No one should be unjustly imprisoned simply for keeping a safely secured firearm because they also happened to use marijuana,” said Naz Ahmad, acting director of CLEAR. “All Americans deserve clarity when it comes to laws that infringe upon a fundamental right and that implicate the risk of imprisonment. Where the law is unclear, as it is here, it cannot stand.”

Ali Hemani is represented by the ACLU, the CLEAR clinic at the CUNY School of Law, Clement & Murphy, and Newland Legal. Organizations and individuals across the ideological spectrum joined as amici, including the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), the Cato Institute, the National Rifle Association (NRA), criminal defense lawyers, and constitutional law scholars.