{"id":4466,"date":"2022-02-25T16:29:24","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T16:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/wp-home\/?p=195276"},"modified":"2022-02-25T16:29:24","modified_gmt":"2022-02-25T16:29:24","slug":"where-does-bidens-supreme-court-nominee-stand-on-marijuana-legalization-heres-what-we-found","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=4466","title":{"rendered":"Where does Biden\u2019s Supreme Court nominee stand on marijuana legalization? Here\u2019s what we found"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <title>Where does Biden&#8217;s Supreme Court nominee stand on marijuana legalization? Here&#8217;s what we found | Leafly<\/title>     <!-- This is Index Exchange, a script\/\/3rd-party integration that interjects GAM. It needs to be 'ahead' of GTM in the DOM, which comes from Cephalopod. GTM loads GAM. This script needs to setup it's interjection stuff before GAM loads. --> <!-- End Index Exchange --> <!-- Quotes = strings--><!-- No quotes = boolean-->\t   <!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v17.5 (Yoast SEO v17.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->                  <!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. --> <\/p>\n<p> <!-- BEGIN Sailthru Horizon Meta Information --><\/p>\n<p><!-- END Sailthru Horizon Meta Information -->  <!-- Google Publisher Tag --> <!-- End Google Publisher Tag --> <!-- Google Tag Manager --> <!-- End Google Tag Manager --> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat --><br \/>\n <!-- Google Tag Manager (noscript) -->   <\/p>\n<div id=\"copy_clipboard_success\" class=\"fixed top-0 left-0 right-0\">\n<div class=\"bg-white p-lg container mt-xl flex justify-between elevation-low rounded\"> <span class=\"flex items-center\">     <span class=\"ml-md\">Link copied to your clipboard<\/span> <\/span> <button id=\"copy_clipboard_close_btn\">    <\/button> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <!-- End Google Tag Manager (noscript) -->   <title>Leafly<\/title>     <title>Leafly \u00ae<\/title>                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              <title>Loading\u2026<\/title>                     <\/p>\n<div class=\"bg-white fixed flex hidden inset-0 items-start md:h-auto md:items-center overflow-auto\" id=\"age-gate-container\">\n<div class=\"bg-white md:h-auto mx-auto p-lg text-sm w-full\" id=\"age-gate\">\n<p><label for=\"select-country\">Where are you from?<\/label><\/p>\n<div class=\"age-gate__info\">\n<p><button class=\"button\" data-testid=\"age-gate-no-button\" id=\"tou-cancel\">no<\/button><button class=\"button ml-md\" data-testid=\"age-gate-yes-button\" id=\"tou-continue\">yes<\/button><\/p>\n<p><label class=\"checkbox__label my-xl\"><span class=\"text-xs\" id=\"remember-user-label\">Remember me for 30 days. <br \/>I confirm that this is not a shared device.<\/span><\/label><\/p>\n<p class=\"error error--underage hidden\">Darn! You&#8217;re not old enough to use Leafly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"hidden age-gate__loading\">Redirecting you to<span class=\"redirect-domain\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-xs mt-auto\">By accessing this site, you accept<br \/>\nthe <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"tou-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/info\/terms-of-use\">Terms of Use<\/a><br \/>\nand <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"pp-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/info\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"container my-xl\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col md:col-9\" id=\"article-content\">\n<p>President Biden is expected to nominate federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to fill the Supreme Court seat of retiring justice Stephen Breyer in a formal announcement later this afternoon. <\/p>\n<p>If nominated, the 51-year-old Jackson will enter the maelstrom of scrutiny that surrounds top court nominees in our hypercharged political environment. But if you\u2019re turning to Leafly for news about a Supreme Court nominee, you want to know one thing: Where does she stand on marijuana legalization? <\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what we know. <\/p>\n<p>A brief survey of Jackson\u2019s appearances in the media turns up no direct statement regarding legalization. But there are plenty of entries on her resume to indicate that she\u2019d give any legal challenges to prohibition at least a fair hearing. <\/p>\n<p>Ruth Marcus of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2022\/02\/25\/ketanji-brown-jackson-criminal-defense-experience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Washington Post<\/a>, in a piece just published this morning, gives heavy weight to Jackson\u2019s two years of experience as a public defender in Washington, DC. \u201cShe would be the first justice to have&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2022\/02\/11\/ketanji-brown-jackson-supreme-court-defender\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">served as a federal public defender<\/a>,\u201d Marcus wrote, \u201ctwo years<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>in the appellate office of the D.C. public defender service. Not since Thurgood Marshall has a justice had such extensive experience representing criminal defendants.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>During her confirmation hearing for a seat on the federal appeals court, Jackson told a Senate confirmation committee that \u201cthere is a direct line from my defender service to what I do on the bench.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Any lawyer who has spent a single day as a public defender has had firsthand experience with the inequities and cruelties of America\u2019s marijuana laws. <\/p>\n<p>Jackson\u2019s interaction with the nation\u2019s drug laws didn\u2019t stop there, though. Later in her career she served on the US Sentencing Commission, which was charged with reforming the outrageous racial disparities in our nation\u2019s drug laws. <\/p>\n<p>After Congress moved to close the gap between sentences handed down for crack and powder cocaine\u2014i.e., in many cases, the gap between Black and white defendants\u2014Jackson argued that the changed sentencing guidelines should apply retroactively to people serving federal sentences for crack possession. <\/p>\n<p>As the Post\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2022\/02\/25\/ketanji-brown-jackson-criminal-defense-experience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Marcus<\/a> quotes Judge Jackson: <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy vote today does not resemble any caricature of a policymaker intent on freeing violent felons without authorization and against congressional will,\u201d Jackson&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ussc.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/Meeting_Transcript_0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>. \u201cIf ever the day should come when the retroactive application of a guideline \u2026 furthers our societal interests in equitable sentencing and the avoidance of unwarranted disparity,\u201d she continued \u2014 and here she paused to emphasize every word \u2014 \u201cthis is that day.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Her words contain obvious implications for the thousands of Americans serving outrageous sentences for cannabis\u2014many of whom have or will see cannabis turn legal in their state, and may one day see it turn legal under federal law. <\/p>\n<p>Stay tuned. The fight over Judge Jackson\u2019s nomination has just begun, and our nation\u2019s unjust drug laws and historical stigmas often play a role in ways both politically symbolic and legally substantial. <\/p>\n<div class=\"my-xxl wp-block-leafly-blocks-leafly-related-articles\">\n<p><h2>Cannabis and the Supreme Court<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"author-box\" class=\"p-lg my-xxl bg-white rounded border border-light-grey elevation-low\">\n<div class=\"mb-lg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/where-does-bidens-supreme-court-nominee-stand-on-marijuana-legalization-heres-what-we-found.jpg\" alt=\"Bruce Barcott's Bio Image\" class=\"lazyload inline-block mr-md rounded-full border border-light-grey\"> <\/p>\n<p>Bruce Barcott<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"text-sm\">Leafly Senior Editor Bruce Barcott oversees news, investigations, and feature projects. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and author of Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America.<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"text-sm font-bold underline text-green\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/news\/author\/bruce-barcott\">View Bruce Barcott&#8217;s articles<\/a> <\/div>\n<div class=\"leafly-sailthru-signup p-lg my-xl bg-white rounded elevation-low border border-light-grey\">\n<p class=\"text-xs pt-lg\">By submitting this form, you will be subscribed to news and promotional emails from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\">Leafly<\/a> and you agree to Leafly&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/tos\">Terms of Service<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>. You can unsubscribe from Leafly email messages anytime.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat -->  <!--\nPerformance optimized by W3 Total Cache. Learn more: https:\/\/www.boldgrid.com\/w3-total-cache\/ Served from: _ @ 2022-02-26 01:55:26 by W3 Total Cache\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Where does Biden&#8217;s Supreme Court nominee stand on marijuana legalization? Here&#8217;s what we found | Leafly Link copied to your clipboard Leafly Leafly \u00ae Loading\u2026 Where are you from? noyes Remember me for 30 days. I confirm that this is not a shared device. Darn! You&#8217;re not old enough to use Leafly. Redirecting you to By accessing this site, you accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. President Biden is expected to nominate federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to fill the Supreme Court seat of retiring justice Stephen Breyer in a formal announcement later this afternoon. If&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marijuana_information"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/where-does-bidens-supreme-court-nominee-stand-on-marijuana-legalization-heres-what-we-found.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}