Solicitor General Says SCOTUS Shouldn’t Hear Challenge to Marijuana Legalization
18th December 2015
Oklahoma and Nebraska argue that Colorado’s licensing and regulation of marijuana businesses violates the Controlled Substances Act and therefore the Supremacy Clause. They brought their complaint directly to the Supreme Court because they think Colorado has created an interstate conflict by allowing the production and distribution of marijuana that may end up in Oklahoma or Nebraska. Federal law gives the Supreme Court “original and exclusive jurisdiction of all controversies between two or more States.”
Verilli rejects Oklahoma and Nebraska’s contention that the smuggling of Colorado cannabis creates an interstate controversy. “Where the plaintiff State does not allege that the defendant State has ‘confirmed or authorized’ the injury-inflicting action, there does not exist a ‘controversy’ between the States appropriate for initial resolution under this Court’s exclusive original jurisdiction,” he writes. “Nebraska and Oklahoma essentially contend that Colorado’s authorization of licensed intrastate marijuana production and distribution increases the likelihood that third parties will commit criminal offenses in Nebraska and Oklahoma by bringing marijuana purchased from licensed entities in Colorado into those states. But they do not allege that Colorado has directed or authorized any individual to transport marijuana into their territories in violation of their laws. Nor would any such allegation be plausible.”