That is the headline from AP’s NYT | DEC. 16, 2015, 7:41 P.M. E.S.T.
..the Obama administration is urging the Supreme Court to reject a lawsuit from Nebraska and Oklahoma that seeks to declare Colorado's pot legalization unconstitutional.
The Justice Department's top courtroom lawyer [ Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr.] said in a brief filed Wednesday that the interstate dispute over a measure approved by Colorado voters in 2012 does not belong at the high court.
Nebraska and Oklahoma claim that Colorado’s law allowing recreational marijuana use by adults is unfair because it makes prohibition too difficult and costly to stop people that may cross state lines with legally purchased marijuana
SG Verrilli’s brief makes two solid points; One is that the lawsuits brought by nearby states (NE & OK) does not belong in the supreme court:
"At most, they have alleged that third-party lawbreakers are inflicting those injuries, and that Colorado's legal regime makes it easier for them to do so,"
Verrilli wrote. Taking up the dispute
"would represent a substantial and unwarranted expansion of this court's original jurisdiction."
On a second point, SG Verrilli continues with the reality of situation, that pretty much de-bunks the prohibitionist argument:
Verrilli's brief also notes that Colorado only allows people to possess one ounce or less of marijuana. Such small quantities carried across the border don't cause the states
"to suffer great loss or any serious injury in terms of law-enforcement funding or other expenditures,"
Verrilli wrote
— emphasis added
In March, Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman had this to say:
Nebraska and Oklahoma..
“filed this case in an attempt to reach across their borders and selectively invalidate state laws with which they disagree.”
Nebraska and Oklahoma prohibitionists claim that Colorado laws are “draining their treasuries”, yet a more truthful reading of it is that they brought this on themselves:
"This is a meritless and, quite frankly, ludicrous lawsuit. We hope the court will agree with the solicitor general that it’s not something it should be spending its time addressing. These states are literally trying to prevent Colorado from controlling marijuana within its own borders,”
said Mason Tvert, a spokesman for the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project.
"If officials in Nebraska and Oklahoma want to have a prohibition-fueled marijuana free-for-all in their states, that’s their prerogative. But most Coloradans would prefer to see marijuana regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol.”
There have been prior lawsuits, equally frivolous and demonstrably self-inflicted:
"Nebraska and Oklahoma's primary problems are their own punitive policies regarding marijuana use and possession,"
said Art Way, the group's Colorado state director.
"It is not Colorado's fault these states look to spend such a high degree of law enforcement and judicial resources on marijuana prohibition."
It will be interesting to see whether or how the supreme court deals with the ‘federalism’ aspect in this:
The new brief ultimately says Nebraska and Oklahoma’s proposed Colorado marijuana lawsuit isn’t the type of claim the Supreme Court normally hears, according to Robert Mikos, a professor at Vanderbilt Law and an expert on federalism and drug law.
“The motion for leave to file a bill of complaint should be denied because this is not an appropriate case for the exercise of this Court’s original jurisdiction,”
the brief says.
“Entertaining the type of dispute at issue here — essentially that one State’s laws make it more likely that third parties will violate federal and state law in another State — would represent a substantial and unwarranted expansion of this Court’s original jurisdiction.”
This looks like a very good turn of events for shining a light on ridiculous prohibition laws, prohibitionists themselves and ‘prohibitionism’ in general within the grievance cabal (aka the GOP).
Plus watching the rwnj’s on the supreme court, with a states rights agenda, parse this kind of thing should be interesting.. (?)
With one last end note: If the supreme court doesn’t hear this case:
..the Colorado marijuana lawsuit could still be heard by the Supreme Court. But if it declines the suit, Nebraska and Oklahoma could then take the case to a federal district court if they choose to.
And just for full disclosure on this: I am not impartial on this topic. Nixon’s 1971 War on Drugs, continuing under Reagan and beyond has always had a racist underpinning — imo — and the “growth industry” prison to cradle pipeline aspect that the “conservative” authoritarian movement exploits, really makes me angry