The U.S. Supreme Court has narrowed its list of pending cases concerning the federal ban on gun ownership by people who use marijuana, with justices declining to take up one of about a half dozen—with the others now set to be discussed by the justices at a closed-door meeting on Friday.
On Tuesday, the court denied a petition for cert in U.S. v. Baxter, which involves a challenge to the federal statute known as Section 922(g)(3). That isn’t especially surprising, however, as both the Justice Department and Keshon Daveon Baxter, the man being prosecuted in the case, advised against further pursing the matter after a lower court reinstated his conviction for being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm. That came after the case was remanded back from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
But advocates are closely monitoring a series of other related cases contesting the constitutionality of the gun ban for cannabis consumers, which they say violates the Second Amendment.
DOJ has specifically asked justices to take up one case in particular on the issue while holding on to others for later action. That case, U.S. v. Hemani, involves a person convicted of possessing a firearm while using cannabis and cocaine and participating in illicit drug sales. It’s viewed as an easier dispute that would favor the government given the involvement of drugs beyond marijuana.
The multiple pending cases were scheduled to be discussed in a closed-door meeting last week. It’s unclear if that happened, but the dockets on the remaining cases were updated on Tuesday to indicate that the justices are now planning to consider them this Friday.
Read more at Marijuana Moment
