Obama Seeks to Reject Anti-Legalization Supreme Court Case

Despite their anti-legalization of marijuana stance, Obama’s administration recently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out a lawsuit against Colorado filed by Nebraska and Oklahoma which asked the Court to block the legalization of recreational marijuana.

Nebraska and Oklahoma filed the case because they stated their resources are being drained in efforts to fight the amount of marijuana legally purchased in Colorado, but then brought illegally into their states. These two states aim to protect the health of their citizens by preventing the increase of marijuana that neighboring Colorado’s recreational law has caused. Although Nebraska and Oklahoma disagree with the Colorado law, they are not implying that Colorado has encouraged or authorized anyone to illegally travel across state lines with marijuana.

This lawsuit was filed using the “original jurisdiction” process, where the Supreme Court oversees cases of state disputes that have not gone through the lower court system.

Although marijuana is legal in some states, it is still considered illegal by federal law. Nebraska and Oklahoma fear that legalizing this drug in Colorado has created a “dangerous gap” in our country that does not abide by federal law. So why is our Commander in Chief asking for a anti-legalization lawsuit to be thrown out by the highest court?

The White House website claims that the Obama administration “steadfastly opposes legalization of marijuana” which makes it even more interesting that he would ask the Supreme Court to reject this case. Despite their opposition, the administration has said that they will not prevent individual states from passing legalization laws. As usual, it seems that Obama can’t take a firm stance on yet another issue.