Tuesday, October 21, 2025 - The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday, October 20, 2025, to review a federal law that prohibits illegal drug users from owning firearms. The law, a key part of the landmark Gun Control Act of 1968, is one of the statutes under which former President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, was charged in 2023.
The justices took up the Justice Department's appeal to
defend the law, which was challenged by a dual American-Pakistani citizen in
Texas, Ali Hemani. A lower court had ruled that the gun restriction largely
violated the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment right to "keep and bear
arms."
The case stems from an illegal gun possession charge brought
against Hemani, who was described as a regular marijuana user. Federal
authorities found a pistol belonging to him, along with marijuana and cocaine,
during an unrelated 2022 raid of his home in Denton County, Texas. Authorities
did not allege Hemani was intoxicated at the time he was found with the
firearm.
Hemani moved to dismiss the charge, citing the stringent test
established by the Supreme Court in a 2022 decision, which requires that modern
gun regulations must be "consistent with the nation's historical tradition
of firearm regulation."
The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
dismissed the charge against Hemani in January, ruling that "there is no
historical justification for disarming a sober citizen not presently under an
impairing influence."
Zachary Newland, a lawyer for Hemani, expressed
disappointment that the Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal but maintained
hope that his client's "important fundamental constitutional rights"
would be vindicated in the end.
The statute at the center of the debate gained national
attention in 2023 when Hunter Biden was charged with violating it. Prosecutors
accused the former President's son of lying about his narcotics use when
purchasing a handgun in October 2018.
Hunter Biden was found guilty by a jury in June 2024, but his
father, President Joe Biden, issued a presidential pardon in December 2024.
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