Pubdate: Tue, 26 Apr 2016
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2016 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: John Ingold

NEB., OKLA. SEEK TO JOIN POT CASE

Nebraska and Oklahoma are trying again to overturn marijuana 
legalization in Colorado, this time by asking to intervene in an 
ongoing court case.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a proposed lawsuit 
brought against Colorado by the two states, leaving the states 
without a court to hear their complaints. Earlier this month, 
Nebraska and Oklahoma responded by asking to be added to a case at 
the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

That case is the consolidation of two separate appeals filed by 
legalization opponents whose lawsuits were dismissed by a lower 
court. Nebraska and Oklahoma's motion means that all of the ongoing 
challenges against Colorado's legalization of marijuana have, for the 
moment, merged into a single court case.

Since Colorado became the first state in the country to allow 
licensed stores to sell marijuana to anyone over 21 years old, the 
state has faced a barrage of lawsuits seeking to shutter the stores. 
So far, none has succeeded.

One lawsuit was brought by a group of county sheriffs, and another 
was brought by the owners of a rural property next to a marijuana 
grow. In both cases, the plaintiffs - backed by national 
anti-legalization organizations - argued that federal laws 
criminalizing marijuana should override state law. Federal trial 
court judges in Colorado dismissed both this year, prompting the 
appeals, which were consolidated into a single case.

This month, the attorneys general in Nebraska and Oklahoma filed a 
motion asking to intervene in the appeal.

"This is an exceptional case involving an imperative reason for 
intervention," lawyers for the two states wrote in their motion.

Nebraska and Oklahoma argue that marijuana legalization in Colorado 
violates their sovereignty and requires them to spend more money 
arresting, jailing and prosecuting an increasing number of people 
caught bringing pot into their states. By not allowing them to 
participate in the case, the two states say the appeals court, "may 
effectively decide Nebraska and Oklahoma's claim before it has the 
chance of being litigated in front of any court."

In a response filed last week, the county of Pueblo - which is named 
as a defendant in the property owners' lawsuit - opposed Nebraska and 
Oklahoma's intervention.

"They want to short circuit the process," the county's lawyers wrote.

There is no timeline for the 10th Circuit judges to make a decision 
on the states' motion.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom