Well this should have some sort of ripple effect.
Clarence Thomas, perhaps the most conservative judge sitting on the Supreme Court, has written about the silliness of the federal government’s stance on marijuana.
The court dismissed a case from a Colorado medical marijuana dispensary seeking federal tax breaks, but Thomas wrote about how unfair the current policy is when dealing with marijuana in his dismissal.
“A prohibition on interstate use or cultivation of marijuana may no longer be necessary or proper to support the federal government’s piecemeal approach,” said Thomas.
The Supreme Court upheld the federal illegality of marijuana in a 2005 case.
“Federal policies of the past 16 years have greatly undermined its reasoning. The federal government’s current approach is a half-in, half-out regime that simultaneously tolerates and forbids local use of marijuana.”
Antiquated laws tend to live long lives in obscure absurdity, but none have the amount of attention that marijuana’s state/federal paradox does, so with more and more Republican support, Biden should eventually see a solid bipartisan opportunity. Clarence Thomas’ vocal stance will certainly push the needle in that direction.
