Supreme Court To Decide If Drug Users Can Carry Guns, But What Lower Courts Have Already Ruled Suggests Constitution Won’t Matter

The Supreme Court said on Monday it will take up a case about whether a federal law that stops drug users from having guns breaks the Constitution. The Trump administration asked the court to look at this issue, making it the newest fight over Second Amendment rights. A decision should come by next summer.

As per The Hill, the law says anyone “who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance” cannot own a gun. If someone breaks this law, they can go to prison for up to 10 years. This charge gets used a lot in courts around the country. U.S. Circuit Judge Stephen Higginson said judges deal with these cases “daily across the country.”

The Supreme Court taking this case is a big deal because lower courts have given different answers about whether the law is okay under the Constitution. Some judges said the law breaks the Second Amendment in some cases, while others said it does not. This split among lower courts shows that what the Constitution means here is still up in the air, even as the Supreme Court gets ready to decide.

What Happens Next Could Be Interesting

The Supreme Court will hear the case this term and make a decision by next summer. What they decide will matter for the federal law and also for similar laws in more than 30 states, the Justice Department says.

This case comes after the Supreme Court made gun rights bigger in 2022. That decision said gun control laws have to fit with how America has regulated guns throughout history. Since then, judges have not agreed on what this means for the law about drug users and guns.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer said “this is the archetypal case for this Court’s review” in papers filed with the court. The case lets the justices explain better how their Second Amendment test should work. The Trump administration has been asking for clearer answers on different constitutional questions, including recent political fights involving White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Hunter Biden got convicted on this charge last year for having a Colt Cobra revolver in 2018 while he was addicted to crack cocaine. He said the law broke the Second Amendment until his father, who was President Biden at the time, pardoned him.

The Supreme Court already made a ruling on something similar last year. The justices said a federal law that stops people under domestic violence restraining orders from having guns is okay. The court also has another gun case coming up this term about a Hawaii law that stops people from carrying hidden guns on private property without the owner saying yes.

The Supreme Court building is closed to the public right now because the court ran out of money during the government shutdown over the weekend. But the justices are still working on their cases like normal.