Free Republic

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is being attacked on both sides of the aisle for rescinding the Obama policy that opened the floodgates to marijuana addiction. Funded by libertarian billionaires such as the Koch brothers, pro-pot senators like Cory Gardner are demanding that AG Sessions stand down and continue Obama’s misguided policy. Sessions rescinded Obama’s command that the Department of Justice ignore federal law against marijuana production and sales, and instead Sessions instructed U.S. Attorneys to begin enforcing well-established federal statutes against large-scale cultivation and distribution of marijuana. These federal laws preempt state law, particularly in Colorado and California where a...

If you live in a place where recreational pot use is legal, you’re probably wondering whether you need to start worrying about getting prosecuted for it. The answer is probably not, at least according to initial indications from the dozen or so U.S. attorneys general who get to make that call. [...] Of the 13 U.S. attorneys presiding in the eight states with laws making recreational use legal, several have indicated they’re interested only in going after marijuana distributors or users with ties to crime or violence. [...]

Excerpts - Forty-six states — including Sessions' home state of Alabama — have legalized some form of medical marijuana in recent years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Eight of those states also allow recreational marijuana. The only legal protection now for medical marijuana growers, processors, sellers and users is a temporary measure sponsored by Republican California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and Democratic Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer prohibiting the U.S. Department of Justice from using government funds to target them.

Starting later this year, residents of Pennsylvania will be allowed to seek out medicinal marijuana products as a treatment option for 17 health conditions. There’s just one catch: Any patient who also happens to be a proud gun owner must first relinquish or trade in his weapons before receiving his medicine, according to a statement from the Pennsylvania State Police. “It’s unlawful to keep possession of firearms obtained prior to registering (for medicinal marijuana),” said state police spokesman Ryan Tarkowski, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “The Pennsylvania State Police is not in the business of offering legal advice, but it...

Colorado’s top federal prosecutor said his office won’t alter its approach to enforcing marijuana crimes after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions withdrew a policy Thursday that allowed pot markets to emerge in states that legalized the drug. The statement by U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer came amid bipartisan outrage over Sessions’ decision to end the so-called Cole memorandum, which sharply limited what charges prosecutors could pursue in legal pot states. He will allow federal prosecutors to decide how aggressively to enforce longstanding federal law banning pot. Troyer said his office will continue to focus on “identifying and prosecuting those who create...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions will roll back an Obama-era policy that gave states leeway to allow marijuana for recreational purposes. Two sources with knowledge of the decision confirmed to The Hill that Sessions will rescind the so-called Cole memo, which ordered U.S. attorneys in states where marijuana has been legalized to deprioritize prosecution of marijuana-related cases. The Associated Press first reported the decision. Sessions, a vocal critic of marijuana legalization, has hinted for months that he would move to crack down on the growing cannabis market. Sessions, since taking over as head of the Justice Department, has appeared to show...

WASHINGTON - The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants the Justice Department to prosecute mayors and other political leaders in so-called "sanctuary cities" that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. "We need to hold these politicians accountable for their actions," Thomas Homan told Fox News. "This isn't the America I grew up in. We got to take these sanctuary cities on. We got to take them to court. And we got to start charging some of these politicians with crimes." Such a policy would dramatically raise the stakes for immigrant-friendly cities and states that have clashed with the administration....

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — More than a dozen states banded together Monday to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to block a California law requiring any eggs sold there to come from hens that have space to stretch out in their cages. In a lawsuit filed directly to the high court, the states allege that California's law has cost consumers nationwide up to $350 million annually because of higher egg prices since it took effect in 2015. The lawsuit argues that California's requirements violate the U.S. Constitution's interstate commerce clause and are pre-empted by federal law. A federal appeals court...

The Supreme Court declined to take up two Second Amendment cases on Monday, which challenged laws banning assault weapons and open-carry in Maryland and Florida. Both cases were denied review without comment from the justices, which left the lower court rulings in place. In the Florida challenge, the state Supreme Court upheld Florida’s ban on open carry finding the Second Amendment doesn’t guarantee a right to open carry.

End the 17th Amendment, and take away power from Washington DC The new class of United States Senators like John McCain, the ones taking on the Swamp in the Republican Party, want to put an end to the Third House, the special interests, the K and J Street lobbies which put their individual, perverse interests at the direct expense of the American citizenry. As a reminder, here is the text of the 17th Amendment:

California sheriffs who opposed adopting a “sanctuary state” law are now being tasked with implementing the law in their jails and retention policies. The law, which began as Senate Bill 54, was issued in response to President Trump’s campaign against illegal immigration. According to the Los Angeles Times, the sanctuary law “is designed to limit the people that California law enforcement agencies can detain, question or investigate at the request of federal immigration officials. But its impact will largely rely on county sheriffs whose departments play a vital role in immigration enforcement.” In sum, the law is an attempt to...

New Jersey Gov.-elect Phil Murphy said he would legalize marijuana within 100 days of taking office in January, and his Tuesday win makes a Democrat-packed statehouse the only obstacle. Supporters feel confident it will happen, but legalization foes plan to campaign for Democratic defections as the other side debates different visions for reform. Legalization in the state — across the river from both New York City and Philadelphia — would be significant geographically, but also because no state has passed legalization legislatively, despite Gallup putting national support at 64 percent.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A U.S. court has sided with a New Mexico ranching family in a decades-long battle over access to water on national forest land, providing more certainty that state law allows for the protection of water rights dating back more than a century. The case of the Goss family has been closely watched by thousands of ranchers who hold grazing permits across the West. Attorneys and others say the outcome could have ripple effects on ranchers and rural communities that have often complained about federal land managers trampling property rights. The Goss family claimed the federal government violated...

A housing benefit that saves clergy $800 million a year in taxes has been deemed unconstitutional by a federal judge. Under the law, housing allowances paid as part of clergy salary can be subtracted from their taxable income. Religious freedom advocates fear the ruling could force many churches in poor areas to close.MADISON, Wisconsin - A federal judge in Wisconsin has struck down as unconstitutional a law that gives clergy tax-free housing allowances, in a ruling that could have far-reaching ramifications for religious leaders, who could be facing new taxes which will threaten their ministry. Under the federal law passed...

A federal agent who had been scrutinized for his handling of rare evidence and his behavior at the counterculture Burning Man festival is no longer an employee of the Bureau of Land Management, authorities said Friday. Daniel Love, who played a command role in federal agents' 2014 standoff with Nevada rancher and states' rights figure Cliven Bundy, no longer works for the agency. .... Love still worked for the agency on Aug. 24, when a federal investigative report was released saying he handed out valuable stones known as moqui marbles to colleagues and a contractor "like candy,". The rocks are...

Any statistician or economist will tell you there is a huge world of difference between the improbable and the impossible. Brexit and the Trump presidency were both thought to be impossible, but they were proven to simply have been improbable. And whenever I see an article about the move for California to secede from the United States (the so-called “Cal-exit”), the more I think that a vote to split is inevitable rather than improbable. As a member of the California Freedom Coalition recently told the Sacramento Bee, collecting signatures for the 2018 ballot, “We feel like this current initiative is...

Okay—I’m going to step back a second on the Electoral College. In general, I think the institution has served us well for over 200 years. No, I don’t think that the five times a president was elected by winning the 270 electoral votes, but not the popular vote, constitutes a harbinger for the destruction of our republic. Liberals whine about Bush’s 2000 win. They whine about Trump’s 2016 win, albeit with more froth around the mouth. There were a solid couple of weeks worth of hot takes about how the Electoral College is archaic, racist, and anti-Democratic and yet we’re...

In a dissenting opinion joined by Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Clarence Thomas excoriated his fellow justices for refusing to temporarily stop enforcement of a federal district judge's ruling that overturned the marriage laws of the state of Alabama and ordered Alabama to recognize as legal "marriages" unions between two people of the same sex. On Jan. 23, U.S. District Judge Callie Granade ruled that Alabama laws limiting marriage to the union of one man and one woman violated the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection of the law. Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange petitioned the Supreme Court to prevent the...

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Latest on Nevada becoming the fifth state in the U.S. with stores selling marijuana for recreational purposes (all times local): Minnesota resident Edgar Rosas Lorenzo on Saturday flew with his family to Sin City for a wedding. But even before he checked in to his hotel, he stopped at a pot dispensary on the Las Vegas Strip. The 21-year-old says he learned of the legalization of recreational marijuana in Nevada while he was at the airport waiting for his flight to depart. He waited in line about 40 minutes before he could buy one-eighth of...

A true test for liberty minded politicians is facing them this Congress.  The idea of federalism as it applies to medical marijuana laws in the states.  The self-proclaimed champions of federalism will have their commitment to the idea tested when they are called on to vote on a measure protecting federalism as part of the appropriations process this fall.There is bipartisan support for the idea of federalism. On May 18, 2017, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) put out a press release that committed the chamber to the idea of federalism:Federalism is not...