Supreme Court Has 20 Cases Left as June 17 Pace Tracks 5-Year Norm

Q: Will the Court’s next gun rights decision change who can legally own a firearm in America?

Yes—if the Court’s next major Second Amendment ruling is *United States v. Hemani*, it could change who may legally possess a firearm under federal law. That case challenges 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), which bars gun possession by people who are unlawful users of controlled substances. Because federal law still treats marijuana as illegal, the statute can apply even in states that allow cannabis use. A ruling striking down that ban, even only as applied to Hemani, would likely narrow the government’s power to disarm drug users and could affect a large number of people. The key question is not about what kinds of guns are legal, but about eligibility: whether the government may categorically deny firearm possession to a class of people based on drug use. That makes *Hemani* a direct “who can own or possess a gun” case. The likely scope matters. If the justices rule narrowly, the immediate effect may be limited to habitual, nonviolent users in circumstances similar to Hemani’s. If they rule more broadly against the statute itself, the change would be much larger and could reshape federal firearms enforcement nationwide. By contrast, the Court’s other pending gun case, *Wolford v. Lopez*, is mainly about where licensed people may carry firearms on private property, not who is eligible to possess them. So the short answer is yes: the next gun-rights decision could change firearm eligibility in America, but the size of that change will depend on how broadly the Court writes *Hemani*.

2 articles · Updated · SCOTUSblog · Jun 17

Twenty cases remain before the Supreme Court with less than two weeks left in June, but a review of the past five terms indicates the justices are not running behind.
Five recent terms show the court often entered late June with 20 or 21 cases still undecided, and final rulings came by June 30 in three years and July 1 in two.
At least several major cases are still pending this term, including disputes over Trump firings, transgender sports bans, birthright citizenship, mail ballots and Temporary Protected Status.
Recent terms also ended with bursts of opinions in the final days, suggesting this term could likewise conclude with a late-June flurry rather than an extended July sitting.