Second Class No Longer

Recapping the Best Second Amendment SCOTUS Term Ever

Closing out its 2025-2026 term, the Supreme Court handed down opinions in several major gun rights cases last week. This marks the first time it has ruled in favor of Second Amendment rights multiple times in the same term. On the last day of the term, the Court also took up a case that is set up to trump even this term’s victories.

Historically, the Second Amendment has been legally dormant at the Supreme Court. Only in 2008 did the Court finally decide D.C. v. Heller and hold that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms. In the nearly two decades since, the Court has taken its time defining the scope of that right. It created a more originalist test for the right in New York State Rifle and Pistol Assn v. Bruen (2022), reigned in that test in United States v. Rahimi (2024), and ruled for the ATF in the 2024-2025 term’s Bondi v. Vanderstock.

If the past few terms were a dark tunnel, this one was a light. In United States v. Hemani, the Court unanimously held that a marijuana user cannot have their Second Amendment rights stripped away under the federal gun control law. Justice Gorsuch’s opinion limited the federal ban on firearm possession by “unlawful users” of controlled substances as applied to non-violent marijuana users.