Justice Clarence Thomas

Supreme Court Justice Questions Whether Federal Ban on Marijuana Remains “Proper”

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote: “If the Government is now content to allow States to act ‘as laboratories’ ‘and try novel social and economic experiments,’ then it might no longer have authority to intrude on ‘[t]he States’ core police powers . . . to define criminal law and to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their citizens.’ A prohibition on intrastate use or cultivation of marijuana may no longer be necessary or proper to support the Federal Government’s piecemeal approach.”