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Another day, another Supreme Court decision expanding gun rights. Except this one kind of makes some sense—and even doubles as a blow against the federal government’s long-standing war on drugs.
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What happened?
SCOTUS narrowed a federal law, passed in 1968 after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, that banned drug users from having guns. A Texas gun owner named Ali Hemani, prosecuted after he admitted to regularly using marijuana, had challenged the law. The justices sided with Hemani, ruling that the law unfairly conflated recreational drug users with dangerous addicts.
That … actually sounds reasonable?
The justices would agree with you. Unlike other big rulings this term, today’s was unanimous. Neil Gorsuch,, noted that the 1968 law’s broad scope—“an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance”—could easily encompass a gun owner who takes unprescribed Ambien or a muncher of the occasional weed gummy. Gorsuch also described it as a “narrow” ruling. SCOTUS didn’t bar the government from stripping guns from drug users who do threaten others, for example; prosecutors just didn’t clear that bar in Hemani’s case, Gorsuch wrote. (For more on his jurisprudence, listen to the latest season of Slate’s Slow Burn podcast.)
So what’s the problem?
It depends on your outlook on the Second Amendment in a country awash in gun violence, but today’s ruling is part of a pattern. Under Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court keeps making it easier to own and carry guns. In 2008, it recognized an individual right to bear arms. In 2010, it made it harder for states to restrict gun rights. In 2022, it established a broad right to carry guns in public.
So why didn’t SCOTUS just strike down the 1968 law?
The Roberts court has sometimes recognized limits to Americans’ gun rights, like in 2024 when it upheld a law that lets the government disarm domestic abusers. Today’s ruling reflected the absurdity of stripping those rights from people who dabble in a drug that most states have legalized or decriminalized. But the broader trend toward more permissive gun rules is unmistakable.
What’s next?
Glad you asked. The court is set to rule soon on another gun case, this one challenging a Hawaiʻi law that restricts people from bringing concealed firearms onto private property. And if the questions the Republican-appointed justices asked during arguments are any guide, SCOTUS isn’t done loosening gun laws this term.
Want more of Slate’s SCOTUS coverage?Click here.
OK, you’re caught up. Time to downshift to the more leisurely part of your evening—and maybe even to the start of your holiday weekend. Might we recommend …
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Or maybe some more World Cup? Canada, our neighbor to the north, faces off against Qatar, which gifted our president a jet, at 6 Eastern. Mexico and South Korea duke it out at 9. And if you’re looking to cheer on the home team, tune in at 3 tomorrow when the U.S. takes on Australia. It may not be a shoo-in, either; Australia, expected to be a bit of a pushover, defied expectations to beat Turkey in an upset last weekend.
Before we go, a quick reminder: The Slatest is off tomorrow for the Juneteenth holiday, so we’ll be back in your inbox on Monday. Have a relaxing night and a great long weekend.
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