Dangerous implications of the Nebraska-Oklahoma lawsuit against marijuana legalization in Colorado

The Volokh Conspiracy ^ | December 19, 2014 | Ilya Somin

[right-wing agnostic]

Co-blogger Jonathan Adler and Vanderbilt law professor Robert Mikos have pointed out some of the flaws in the lawsuit filed by Nebraska and Oklahoma urging a federal court to invalidate marijuana legalization in neighboring Colorado. In the unlikely event that the plaintiff states prevail, they will also have set a very dangerous precedent – one that conservatives are likely to rue in other areas.

Nebraska and Oklahoma argue that Colorado’s decision to legalize marijuana under state law, in the face of continuing federal prohibition, harms neighboring states because it facilitates the flow of marijuana across their borders and may increase crime there. Liberal states with strict gun control laws raise exactly the same complaints about the flow of guns from neighboring conservative states with relatively permissive firearms laws. If Nebraska and Oklahoma can force Colorado to criminalize marijuana under state law because the federal government has done so under federal law, then Maryland can force Virginia to ban any gun sales that are restricted under federal law. Liberals have, in fact, advocated the enactment of stronger federal gun control laws for years. The same goes for conservative states that have less restrictive labor regulations or environmental regulations than neighboring states do.

[tacticalogic]

Not with an admin mod's skirts to hide behind.

I never backed down from you before you got banned, either.