April 19, 2024
Federal appellate courts are mulling multiple challenges to state and local cannabis licensure programs, all brought by one California-based attorney and each alleging that the dormant commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution must apply to federally illegal marijuana.
March 04, 2024
A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday reversed and remanded a district court's decision to abstain from a challenge to Sacramento's social equity cannabis licensure program, saying even if a state court clarified the program's unambiguous residency requirements, it wouldn't change the outcome of the plaintiff's federal commerce clause claim.
November 15, 2023
A Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday appeared skeptical that a lower district judge made the right call by abstaining from a challenge to Sacramento, California's social equity cannabis licensure program, pressing counsel to articulate why federal courts should not hear the case.
July 10, 2023
Florida's attorney general has asked the state's highest court to block a marijuana legalization effort, the Ninth Circuit is mulling a lawsuit challenging local residency rules for cannabis operators, and medical marijuana patients are turning to the courts to defend their gun rights. Here are the major cannabis lawsuits Law360 is keeping an eye on for the second half of the year.
June 14, 2023
A Michigan man alleging that a California city's social equity cannabis licensure program unconstitutionally discriminates against out-of-state residents warned the Ninth Circuit in a recent filing that it could create a circuit split if it upheld a district judge's decision to abstain from reviewing his case.
May 03, 2023
Two organizations representing 58 counties and 477 cities in California urged the Ninth Circuit to affirm a lower court's decision that abstained from a cannabis company's lawsuit alleging Sacramento's licensing policies are unconstitutional, saying the appellants ignore the "elephant in the room:" the case's significant stakes.
May 02, 2023
The city of Los Angeles is asking the Ninth Circuit to side with Sacramento in a suit alleging the cannabis licensing policy in the California capital is unconstitutional, saying the constitution does not grant its protections to federally illegal activity such as selling cannabis.
April 24, 2023
The city of Sacramento urged the Ninth Circuit on Monday to uphold a federal judge's order abstaining from and staying a challenge by a Michigan man who said Sacramento's residency requirement for its social equity cannabis licensure program is unconstitutional, arguing the judge correctly abstained based on federalism and comity concerns.
April 12, 2023
A California federal judge has put a hold on a Michigan man's suit alleging that Los Angeles' cannabis licensing policy unconstitutionally discriminates against out-of-state residents, saying the man's current appeal with the Ninth Circuit in a similar suit against Sacramento should proceed first.
February 24, 2023
A Michigan man alleging that Sacramento's residency requirement for the city's social equity cannabis licensure program is unconstitutional told the Ninth Circuit that a district judge was wrong to abstain from reviewing his lawsuit.