On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court docket denied certiorari in Canna Provisions, Inc. et al. v. Bondi, a high-profile lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of the federal prohibition of intrastate (and never interstate) hashish exercise. The denial provided no reasoning; nor was it accompanied by dissents or concurrences from any of the justices—all of which is typical. The upshot is that petitioner’s loss on the First Circuit Court docket of Appeals is closing. Relaxation in peace, Canna Provisions.
Now we have been monitoring and writing about this case because it was filed two years in the past. We acknowledged the pedigree of David Boies and the legal professionals concerned, however finally, the trouble left us uninspired. See:
Within the aftermath of the Supreme Court docket’s denial on Monday, my colleague Jason Adelstone additionally provided this submit mortem on LinkedIn:
This final result is unlucky however unsurprising given the essentially flawed technique used to problem Gonzales v. Raich. There have been much more credible avenues for advancing this argument, most notably by means of sympathetic medical sufferers, moderately than company actors working within the adult-use market. From the outset, this case was designed for Supreme Court docket evaluate. What the technique did not adequately account for, nonetheless, is the composition and conservatism of the present Court docket. Perhaps subsequent time the business will assist a case that has an precise likelihood to prevail.
Whether or not there’s a “subsequent time,” or what that might appear like, is an open query—significantly with rumors aswirl a couple of Trump government order on rescheduling marijuana. If marijuana lands on Schedule III, hashish companies would finally get the truthful tax remedy sought by Canna Provisions, though banking, SBA loans and different facilities would nonetheless be impaired.
It could be considerably ironic if the Division of Justice finally adopted a Trump directive to reschedule marijuana right now, given its posture final month within the Canna Provisions litigation. I defined:
[T]he DOJ declined to file a Supreme Court docket temporary within the Canna Provisions case . . . . The DOJ’s place is curious, on condition that 1) the case strikes on the coronary heart of the federal authorities’s capability to implement federal legal guidelines, and a couple of) the federal authorities has been eager to weigh in on Supreme Court docket hashish litigation, within the context of gun rights. Because it stands, the Court docket will now determine whether or not to listen to this case with out government department enter.
And that’s precisely what occurred. It’s now time for everybody to maneuver on to the subsequent factor, which we’re informed could possibly be an government order on rescheduling, introduced as quickly as tomorrow. As I defined in a Canna Provisions critique:
[M]arijuana reform is squarely a job for Congress or the manager department. Not the judiciary. We’d like Congress to behave, particularly within the context of stalled Schedule III proceedings, and we want broader reforms than what Canna Provisions seeks. These reforms embody not simply interstate commerce, however decriminalization and ideally reparations of some type.
Schedule III won’t get us interstate commerce, and it actually wouldn’t convey decriminalization or reparations. Nevertheless it’s a step in the appropriate path—particularly whereas Congress can’t get organized on hashish reform, other than hemp. I don’t anticipate that to alter previous to the 2026 midterms, which suggests the very best hope for now could be an government order. Canna Provisions, relaxation in peace.
