Sheriffs and prosecutors from across Colorado filed a lawsuit Thursday in Denver federal district court challenging the constitutionality of Colorado’s Amendment 64 that legalized marijuana use in Colorado.
“This suit is about one thing — the rule of law,” Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith said in a news release Thursday. “The Colorado Constitution mandates that all elected officials, including sheriffs, swear an oath of office to uphold both the United States as well as the Colorado Constitutions.”
Gov. John Hickenlooper was named as the defendant in the lawsuit.
Other marijuana lawsuits
Follow The Cannabist on and
Amendment 64 established a new right under the state constitution to engage in an activity that is in violation of federal laws, he said.
“It mandates that the state government and its subdivisions actively support this activity through a regulatory process,” Smith said. “As a sheriff, it obliges me to protect this newly established right.”
He said the legal consequences of such actions can leave a sheriff ineligible to hold his or her office under Colorado law.
Given these conflicts, the United States Constitution has been clear through the Supremacy Clause that our United States Constitution is the “law of the land,” he said in the news release.
“As an elected sheriff, I take my oath of office very seriously,” Smith said. “Members of my community, from the left, middle and right, routinely remind me of the importance, not only of taking that oath, but more importantly — living up to that oath.”
Smith questioned whether the authors of Amendment 64 intentionally hid this constitutional conflict from Colorado voters or whether they were simply unaware of the implications of their amendment, but the conflict is real.
“Our action today seeks to resolve a critical legal question — whether Colorado’s Amendment 64 complies with the United States Constitution and therefore with the Colorado Constitution,” Smith said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, denverpost.com/coldcases or twitter.com/kirkmitchell
The post appeared first on .
