The Cato Institute

Legal Marijuana Under Attack

The DOJ is using the criminal law to trample on state prerogatives and individual rights…

Today, Attorney General Sessions announced that the Department of Justice rescinded the “Cole Memo,” an internal enforcement guideline from the Obama Administration that de-prioritized enforcement of federal marijuana prohibition against individuals and businesses complying with state laws regarding recreational marijuana. This move endangers state-legal businesses and violates the principles of federalism that have been central to the Republican Party for decades.

This was made possible, in part, by the failure of the judiciary to rein in the power of an overzealous federal government. The Supreme Court has twice approved of this type of overreach. In Wickard v. Filburn (1942) and Gonzales v. Raich(2005), the Court ruled that individuals growing crops exclusively for personal consumption—wheat and marijuana, respectively—could be regulated by the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution despite the crops never entering a market of any kind, let alone across state lines.

While the average marijuana consumer is not going to be targeted or arrested by the federal government, business owners directly and indirectly involved in state-legal recreational marijuana distribution may see their freedoms and livelihoods threatened by this action.  Put simply, the DOJ is using the criminal law to trample on state prerogatives and individual rights. 

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Jeff Sessions’ Worrying Authoritarianism

There are red flags in Sessions’ record that should worry those who believe in limited government and individual liberty…

The first of President-elect Trump’s nominees to get a confirmation hearing was Senator Jeff Sessions, who went before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

When President-elect Trump selected Alabama senator Jeff Sessions to be his attorney general, many conservatives cheered, Trump’s AG nominee has a record that ought to worry believers in small government and individual liberty.

Sessions sharply departs from the growing bipartisan consensus on criminal-justice reform. He was a leading opponent of the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, which reduced federal sentences for some non-violent drug offenses and other crimes, and has long been one of the most ardent drug warriors in Congress. 

At a time when 32 states have legalized medical and/or recreational use of marijuana, Sessions told a Senate hearing last April that, “Marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized…It’s in fact a very real danger.” His opposition to state legalization measures promises to put the Justice Department in conflict with conservative principles of federalism.

Moreover, Sessions has defended asset-forfeiture laws — which are considered by most observers to be widely abused — as a means of taking money from people who have “done nothing in their lives but sell dope.” He’s even advocated allowing the federal government to step in and seize assets when state law-enforcement agencies won’t.

Just as worrying, Sessions generally opposes Justice Department supervision of local police departments accused of racial abuses. He has opposed legislation protecting the jobs of federal whistle-blowers and shield laws protecting journalists from having to disclose their sources. He has defended the ability of the NSA and other federal agencies to spy on Americans, and even introduced an amendment to the Email Privacy Act that would have created a loophole allowing law enforcement to demand such data without a warrant.

Sessions will almost certainly be confirmed. Presidents are generally entitled to the cabinet of their choosing, and nothing that has come out about Trump’s AG nominee so far appears disqualifying. But that doesn’t mean that Senators shouldn’t ask him tough questions.

Both Democrats and Republicans should join in concern over Sessions’s knee-jerk deferral to law enforcement and government authority.

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