Supreme Court weakens law used to convict Hunter Biden on gun charges
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Politics
Supreme Court weakens law used to convict Hunter Biden on gun charges
By Ryan King and Josh Christenson Published June 18, 2026 Updated June 18, 2026, 12:14 p.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on GoogleWASHINGTON — The Supreme Court unanimously rejected the prosecution of a Texas man on charges of purchasing a firearm while consuming marijuana Thursday, weakening a federal law used to convict former first son Hunter Biden.
In a unanimous ruling written by Republican-appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch, the high court agreed that the prosecution of Ali Danial Hemani violated his Second Amendment rights.
The court did not address the question of whether addicts who were currently intoxicated could purchase a firearm or whether any person under the influence of marijuana could be deemed too dangerous to posses a gun.
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The justices also didn’t outright strike down the law, which was used to prosecute the younger Biden for purchasing a firearm while addicted to cocaine.
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“We appreciate that drugs and guns can sometimes make for a dangerous mix,” Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion.
“…[T]he government cannot carry the burden it has set for itself. We decide cases ‘based on the historical record,’” he added. “And the habitual drunkard laws on which the government relies here differ dramatically from [the statute in question’s] unlawful user provision on every single metric the government invites us to consider.”
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Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito both penned concurring opinions, with the latter joined by liberal Justice Elena Kagan. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, appointed to the court by then-President Joe Biden, also wrote a concurrence backed by fellow liberal Sonia Sotomayor.
FBI agents had searched the home of Hemani, a dual citizen of the US and Pakistan, in 2022 under the suspicion that some of his family members were involved in “terrorism-related activities.”
Investigators ended up uncovering a handgun and marijuana that Hemani admitted he used “about every other day.”
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Prosecutors later alleged that Hemani unlawfully possessed the Glock 19 9mm pistol while being an unlawful user of a controlled substance, but lower courts dismissed the case on Second Amendment grounds. Hemani was not charged with any other crimes or accused of using the weapon while under the influence.
Recreational use of cannabis remains illegal on a federal level, even after the Trump administration reclassified medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug in April, but is permitted in 24 states.
“Whatever one thinks of these developments, the federal government has not just tolerated them; it helped fuel them,” Gorsuch wrote. “All of which leaves it awkwardly positioned to suggest that the millions of Americans who now regularly use marijuana are categorically and unusually dangerous.”
The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Rifle Association supported Hemani’s case, as did cannabis legalization groups such as NORML. On the other side were gun safety groups including Everytown that usually oppose the Trump administration on Second Amendment issues.
The ACLU applauded the ruling, saying that nearly half of Americans have reported using marijuana at some point in their lives.
“The court has sent a strong message that the government cannot criminalize the conduct of large numbers of people by making categorical and unfounded assumptions about whether they are dangerous,” said Cecillia Wang, legal director at the ACLU.
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The group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which opposes legalization, condemned the court’s decision.
“While the justices in this case appear to be most concerned with historical battles over Second Amendment rights, public health and safety are the collateral damage in this decision,” said CEO Kevin Sabet.
Hunter Biden was convicted in June 2024 under the same criminal statute as Hemani — as well as for two other felony — but was pardoned that December by his father.
“Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form,” President Biden had said in a Dec. 1, 2024, statement when granting the clemency. “… It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.”
A jury in Hunter’s home state of Delaware had found him guilty of making false statements about not abusing drugs or alcohol in order to purchase a revolver in October 2018.
At the time, the younger Biden was a crack cocaine addict, as he subsequently admitted in his 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things.”
The Supreme Court is expected to rule in the coming days on another Second Amendment case involving a Hawaii law restricting the carrying of handguns on private property without consent.
With Post wires
Filed under- aclu
- guns
- hunter biden
- marijuana
- national rifle association
- second amendment
- supreme court
- texas
- 6/18/26
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Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
