RIDGE RUNNER CHRONICLES: Here’s an Update on the United States vs. Hemani Case

By Editor | July 6, 2026 |

Last February, I wrote a column about a criminal matter pending before the US Supreme Court in which the defendant, Ali Hemani, was being charged with a felony because, by his own admission, he was a casual user of marijuana who also owned a firearm. (He said that he smoked marijuana every other day). He was being charged under a federal statute that makes it a felony for a habitual drug user to possess a firearm. When I wrote the column, I advised readers to “stay tuned” for the decision because the implications were that if the Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s ruling in this case, all casual users of marijuana who also owned firearms could be automatically banned from possessing a firearm. Like it or not, that result could impact a lot of Americans.
We now have a decision in this case and from my perspective, the only surprise is that it was a unanimous decision on a Second Amendment issue. On June 18, the Court affirmed the lower court’s ruling that this statute was unconstitutional as applied to this defendant and the facts of this case. They did not hold that the statute on its face violated the Second Amendment; people can still be prosecuted under this statute [18 U.S.C. 922(g)(3)] but they cannot be prosecuted simply because they possess both marijuana and firearms at the same time. While I personally don’t have a dog in this fight—I am not a drug user—the decision makes sense and most constitutional experts expected this result.
What I found amusing was the way in which Justice Gorsuch, who wrote the majority opinion, handled the government’s claim that when the Second Amendment was drafted in 1787, “habitual drunkards” were historically not allowed to have firearms and therefore, by analogy, today’s casual marijuana users should be treated the same way with respect to the Second Amendment; in other words, they too should be barred from possessing firearms. Justice Gorsuch first noted that back when the Second Amendment was being drafted, it was “a culture of copious drinking.” He pointed out that John Adams, James Madison, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson all drank alcohol almost on a daily basis. Then to further prove his point, he described a celebration honoring George Washington just days before the US Constitution was signed, in which a group of men, most of whom participated in the signing of the US Constitution, consumed the following amounts of booze: 55 men drank 54 bottles of madeira, 60 bottles of wine, 8 bottles of “old stock”, 22 bottles of porter, 8 bottles of cider, 12 bottles of beer and 7 large bowls of punch. Wow!
Until now, it never occurred to me that the drafters of the Constitution “knew how to party.” Maybe that was a necessary bump in getting this most important document finally signed, sealed and delivered.
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■ Bill Hoagland has practiced law in Alton for more than 50 years, but he has spent more than 70 years hunting, fishing and generally being in the great outdoors. His wife, Annie, shares his love of the outdoor life. Much of their spare time is spent on their farm in Calhoun County. Bill can be reached at [email protected].