The U.S. Supreme Court will meet in private next month to decide whether to take up a case that could have major implications for gun rights and marijuana laws.
Justices are scheduled to review U.S. v. Cooper during a closed-door conference on September 29, according to the court’s docket. The case involves a man whose three-year prison sentence for possessing a firearm while using marijuana was overturned by an appeals court. At the center of the dispute is Section 922(g)(3) of federal law, which prohibits people who use illegal drugs—including marijuana—from owning firearms, even in states where marijuana is legal.
The case is part of a broader legal push questioning the constitutionality of the decades-old statute. Two other similar cases are pending, including U.S. v. Baxter, where the defendant was charged under the same federal law after being found with a gun and a bag of marijuana. In that case, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals cast doubt on whether the ban is constitutional as applied to the defendant.
The Department of Justice had until July 3 to appeal that decision but missed the deadline without filing additional documents, leaving its next move uncertain.
With marijuana legal for medical or recreational use in most states, the outcome of these cases could reshape how gun laws are applied to millions of Americans.
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