During oral argument in United States v. Hemani on Monday, Principal Deputy Solicitor General Sarah Harris urged the Supreme Court to reinstate a Texas marijuana user's prosecution for illegal gun possession. Harris argued that 18 USC 922(g)(3), which makes it a felony for an "unlawful user" of "any controlled substance" to receive or possess a firearm, is analogous to the historical treatment of "habitual drunkards."
That analogy is crucial under the Second Amendment test established by the Court's 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which requires the government to show that gun laws are "consistent with this Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation." But several justices challenged the premise that the people covered by Section 922(g)(3) are comparable to "habitual drunkards," who historically could be confined to workhouses as "vagrants" or civilly committed based on judicial determinations.
