Pubdate: Wed, 14 Jan 2015
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2015 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Al Kamen

FEINSTEIN AND GRASSLEY, THE BUZZ-HARSHING CAUCUS

Republican Chuck Grassley and Democrat Dianne Feinstein are united in 
their opposition to ceding the war on drugs. Last week, they sent a 
joint letter to Secretary of State John Kerry and one to Attorney 
General Eric Holder expressing their concerns that the legalization 
of marijuana in some states is in direct conflict with international 
conventions.

Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority, completely agrees. But 
how to remedy that contention? That's where their agreement ends.

Sen. Grassley of Iowa and Sen. Feinstein of California, in their 
letters to Kerry and Holder, argue that the Obama administration's 
decision not to interfere with states legalizing recreational 
marijuana makes it difficult for the United States to then defend 
"compliance" with the United Nations conventions on narcotics, which 
say marijuana should be limited to scientific and medical use.

Last fall, Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield said there 
should be a flexible interpretation of the treaty. That, the senators 
wrote to Kerry, "could create a harmful precedent that would allow 
state parties to implement policies that legalize other, even more 
harmful drugs, without recourse."

Angell agreed there is an inconsistency. "When the U.S. has legal 
marijuana, it makes it difficult for U.S. officials to go around the 
world and say they should continue to prohibit marijuana," he told 
the Loop. But unlike the senators, advocates for legalizing the drug 
would prefer the U.S. support amending the U.N. treaties to be more lenient.

"We both see the same effect, we see what is coming down the line," 
Angell said, referring to changing marijuana laws. "We like it, they 
don't like it. We're winning, they're not."

There is one more area in which Angell and drug reformers side with 
the senators. In the Grassley-Feinstein letter to Holder, they ask 
that Justice compile data on the "overall effect" of allowing states 
to legalize marijuana - such as whether it's easier for minors to get pot.

"Yeah, we'd like to see that data all compiled in a nice, neat 
package," Angell said, predicting that it would show that legalizing 
pot generates tax revenue, reduces the size of the drug black market 
and would generally support the case for legalization.

Or maybe it would show that Feinstein is right about weed being a gateway drug.

And yes, it is not lost on us that a senator with the last name 
Grassley is spearheading an anti-marijuana effort.

On trying, trying again

If you believe you are the most able person to be the leader of the 
free world, that's a difficult one to let go. Just ask Mitt Romney.

Even Sen. John McCain (RAriz.), who followed the same presidential 
trajectory as Romney, coming up short in a primary battle and 
securing the nomination on the second go, still has that dream.

Appearing Tuesday morning on CNN's "New Day" to discuss foreign 
policy and the White House's absence from the Paris unity rally, 
McCain was asked whether he had considered attending the march. He 
said he hadn't been invited.

He added: "As much as I want to be president, I don't think I can act like it."

Yes, that's "want" in the present tense. A dream that big never dies.

But McCain's daughter took to Twitter to suggest that for her dad, 
and others, the dream is just not meant to be.

"I am not sure what Mitt Romney's team is thinking, but maybe a 
little advice from someone who knows - not everyone is meant to be 
President," she tweeted.

Sen. McCain, when asked directly about Romney's apparent third try, 
told our colleague Paul Kane: "I don't know, man, it's a free 
country. I thought there was no education in the second kick of a mule."

He then said that he respected Romney's judgment.

Justice delayed

Traffic must have been brutal Tuesday morning on the GW Parkway. Even 
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia couldn't make it to work on 
time, leaving it to Chief Justice John Roberts to sub for him in 
announcing the court's rulings in two cases.

Under the court's procedures, the justice who wrote the majority 
decision - in these cases, Scalia - reads a short overview of the 
case, whence it came to the court, what the legal question is, the 
holding of the lower court and the Supreme Court's ruling. (In rare, 
usually intensely divisive cases, a dissenting justice will read a 
summary of the dissent.)

But the court was unanimous in both of Tuesday's five-page rulings. 
One case, Jesinoski v. Countrywide Home Loans, concerned the statute 
of limitations in a mortgage dispute. The second was a criminal 
sentencing case involving the statutory interpretation of "forced 
accompaniment." (To think we used to enjoy covering this stuff for a living.)

In any event, Roberts did a fine job as a last-minute sub and Scalia 
rushed in at 10:11, our colleague Robert Barnes reports, just 11 minutes late.

There's no penalty for tardiness, of course, but Scalia may want to 
check out the traffic news in the morning - Metrorail was still 
recovering from Monday's tragic fire at L'Enfant Plaza, and the roads 
were jammed.

Then he'd have known to leave a little earlier. After all, one of his 
neighbors, Justice Anthony Kennedy, was able to make it on time.

Moving on

White House Council on Environmental Quality acting director Mike 
Boots is leaving in March, officials told our colleague Juliet 
Eilperin on Tuesday. Boots, who is heading back to the private 
sector, has been acting CEQ head since February 2014. His departure, 
along with that of White House senior adviser John Podesta, who's 
expected to leave next month to work on Hillary Clinton's likely 
presidential campaign, leaves President Obama without his top two 
environmental advisers as he enters the last two years of his presidency.

- - With Colby Itkowitz
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom