U.S. government sides with Colorado, urges Supreme Court to not hear case
U.S. government sides with Colorado, urges Supreme Court to not hear case
By Ricardo Baca,
The Cannabist Staff
The Daily Beast
The U.S. government has taken Colorado’s side in a dispute with neighboring states over marijuana legalization and is urging the Supreme Court to not hear a major challenge to the state’s recreational cannabis laws.
The response, which was filed by the Solicitor General of the Department of Justice with the U.S. Supreme Court, comes seven months after the court asked the top government lawyer for an opinion on the lawsuit filed by Nebraska and Oklahoma.
In December 2014, Nebraska and Oklahoma filed the lawsuit directly with the nation’s highest court asking to strike down Colorado’s history-making marijuana laws.
The states argued that “the State of Colorado has created a dangerous gap in the federal drug control system … Marijuana flows from this gap into neighboring states, undermining Plaintiff States’ own marijuana bans, draining their treasuries, and placing stress on their criminal justice systems,” the lawsuit alleged.
In May 2015, the Supreme Court asked advice of Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, Jr. The new brief addresses Nebraska and Oklahoma’s complaint — and questions its place within the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction.
“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 story is developing and will be updated.
In December 2014, Nebraska and Oklahoma filed the lawsuit directly with the nation’s highest court asking to strike down Colorado’s history-making marijuana laws.
The states argued that “the State of Colorado has created a dangerous gap in the federal drug control system … Marijuana flows from this gap into neighboring states, undermining Plaintiff States’ own marijuana bans, draining their treasuries, and placing stress on their criminal justice systems,” the lawsuit alleged.
In May 2015, the Supreme Court asked advice of Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, Jr. The new brief addresses Nebraska and Oklahoma’s complaint — and questions its place within the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction.
“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 story is developing and will be updated.
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