Posted on 12/19/2014 10:21:17 PM PST by right-wing agnostic
I want to second Jonathan’s take on the lawsuit brought by Oklahoma and Nebraska to enjoin the operation of Colorado’s marijuana regulations. Much as I respect Oklahoma’s Attorney General Scott Pruitt, I think this suit lacks merit. Among other vices, it seriously misreads the Supreme Court’s decision in Gonzales v. Raich, which I litigated on behalf of Angel Raich and Diane Monson from the filing of the complaint to the oral argument in the Supreme Court.
The Court in Raich ruled that Congress had the power to criminalize the noncommercial and wholly intrastate cultivation, possession and transfer of marijuana notwithstanding that it was legal to cultivate, possess and transfer under California state law. The majority did so, in part, because it deemed such possession to be “economic activity” based on a 1966 Webster’s dictionary definition of “economic” that included the production of goods. In this way, it found that the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) — as applied to my clients’ activities — was consistent with the Supreme Court’s decisions in U.S. v. Lopez and U.S. v. Morrison.
In Lopez and Morrison, the Court had held that the power of Congress to reach wholly intrastate activity, because that activity had a substantial effect on interstate commerce, was limited to the regulation of intrastate economic activity. In Raich, the majority also rested its ruling on the fact that this regulation was an essential part of a broader regulation of interstate commerce. Indeed, Justice Scalia based his concurring opinion in Raich solely on the ground that Congress can reach even noneconomic activity when Congress deemed it essential to a broader scheme to regulate interstate commerce.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Nebraska and Oklahoma are forming a Reich?
This is the writer that makes such great arguments for partial birth abortion, is he a favorite of yours?
Oh I just looked at your posting history, you don’t respond to your threads, well, welcome to FR.
Been here since last Memorial Day or so, eh? Wow, long-time conservative!
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