The U.S. Supreme Court has trimmed its growing docket of cases dealing with the federal ban on firearm possession by people who use marijuana, rejecting one petition on Tuesday but leaving several others in play that could soon determine the future of cannabis consumers’ Second Amendment rights.
In a brief order, the court denied a petition for certiorari in U.S. v. Baxter, a case challenging the federal statute 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), which bars “unlawful users” of controlled substances from owning guns. The move was largely expected—both the Justice Department (DOJ) and defendant Keshon Daveon Baxter urged the court not to continue the case after an appeals court reinstated Baxter’s conviction.
But the denial sets the stage for a potentially major showdown in other, still-pending cases on the same issue. The justices are scheduled to privately discuss U.S. v. Hemani, U.S. v. Cooper, U.S. v. Daniels and U.S. v. Sam at a closed-door conference on Friday. DOJ has specifically asked the court to take up Hemani, a case involving a defendant who used both cannabis and cocaine, arguing that it presents the cleanest path for a ruling that upholds the federal prohibition.
Advocates for reform say the ban violates the Second Amendment and unfairly discriminates against marijuana consumers in states where the drug is legal. “If alcohol drinkers can own guns, the same principle should apply to responsible cannabis users,” one Republican senator recently told Marijuana Moment.
Lower courts across the country remain divided. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals last month upheld a ruling that struck down the federal ban as unconstitutional, while other appellate courts—including the Eighth and Third Circuits—have issued mixed decisions or called for individualized assessments. Several district judges have likewise ruled that the government’s historical justifications for disarming marijuana users are too broad and inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen precedent.
As states continue to expand cannabis legalization, the outcome of these cases could have sweeping implications for millions of gun owners nationwide—and may soon force the high court to confront how modern marijuana laws fit within America’s centuries-old constitutional framework.
Read the whole article from MarijuanaMoment here.
