By declining to hear a case brought by Nebraska and Oklahoma against Colorado over its pot legalization law, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected what one advocacy group described as “misguided effort to undo cautious and effective state-level regulation of marijuana.”
The lawsuit, filed in 2014 by the attorneys general of Nebraska and Oklahoma, where marijuana is still outlawed, charged that Colorado—where a state-regulated recreational pot program has been up and running for more than two years—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 claimed.
Had it gone forward, said Tom Angell, chairman of the drug policy reform group Marijuana Majority, the case “had the potential to roll back many of the gains our movement has achieved to date.”
By a 6-2 majority, the Supreme Court declined (pdf) to hear the case, without comment.
According to the Denver Post: “Because the Supreme Court has passed on the case, Nebraska and Oklahoma could now take it to a federal district court if they choose to, law experts say. The states have not yet said how or if they will move forward with a similar suit in another court.”
But, reporter Christopher Ingraham wrote at the Washington Post, “They’re facing an increasingly steep uphill battle.”
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