SCOTUS Watch

Drugs and 2A tea leaves: Oral arguments before the Supreme Court on Monday indicated that a federal law that disarms users of illegal drugs may be struck down. The plaintiff, Ali Danial Hemani, a "regular" user of marijuana, is facing prosecution for owning a handgun discovered when the FBI searched his home in 2022. Disarming those who consume mind-altering substances seems fairly reasonable, except in the face of the Second Amendment's "shall not be infringed" clause. The Trump administration is arguing in favor of disarming Hemani and against his Second Amendment rights on the theory of laws used to temporarily disarm "habitual drunkards." The Court does not seem overly fond of that theory. Justice Neil Gorsuch asked if the administration's theory would disarm for life a Coloradoan with a medical prescription who took one cannabis gummy every other night, which U.S. Deputy Solicitor General Sarah Harris admitted it would.
 
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson authored the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling Wednesday ordering federal appeals courts to defer to immigration judges when reviewing asylum decisions, bolstering the executive branch's authority in immigration cases and handing the Trump administration a win as it pushes an aggressive deportation agenda.

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