The problem is that most people charged with crimes related to marijuana were charged at the state level which means that pardoning for those individuals needs to be done at a state level.
Which is going to be an uphill battle to say the least.
Hell take the supreme court decision that made anti sodomy laws unconstitutional in 2003 for example: decades after that decision people are still trying to get off of sex offender registries. An example from 2022 in regards to Idaho settling a few lawsuits about it.
This is the correct situation. Until Federal legalization happens, you can’t overturn state conviction.
This isn’t entirely true. Many states who have legalized Cannabis have expunged convictions off of people’s records automatically, or have created a process where an individual can request it.
Basically what the previous commentor and I are saying is that it has to be state level overturns or expungements unless the federal government can get legislation through because the federal government can’t force the states to do that without legislation.
I see. That isn’t how I interpreted their comment, but I do agree with that assessment. Even if Cannabis was federally legalized I’m not sure that the federal government could force states to retroactively overturn convictions, but I am just making an assumption as that is beyond the scope of my legal knowledge.
Yes. Unless it’s a federal indictment, the states need to clear it. There have been instances where Federal Regulations are wiped out (prohibited), but that is not the case here.
In those cases, states overturned their own ruling. Bit different.
And given our current situation in the House and Senate (not having enough to beat a Republican filabuster) I don’t see federal legislation happening anytime soon.
Senate (not having enough to beat a Republican filabuster)
The Democrats’ caucus is large enough to do away with the filibuster forever. So naturally, it hasn’t.
If you can get them all to agree to get rid of it
And that’s a big if
Since the party wants perfect lockstep from its voters, that if shouldn’t exist at all.
That’s not entirely true. It’s true that the President can’t decriminalize a drug. If Congress passed this bill, marijuana would be decriminalized and records of marijuana related crimes would be expunged at all levels. The bill is cosponsored by 113 Democrats and Matt Gaetz.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3617
That would be cool if it passed for sure, and I hope that something like that (or that itself) does because it’s long overdue
Except those victims who were in federal prison for possession who are now all free. Those victims, I think it helps significantly.
As the article notes, Kamela Harris has come out in favor of big marijuana reforms. Also, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act already passed the house in 2022. I honestly don’t know what happened that it died in the Senate or why it didn’t go anywhere, but do you know anything about Biden being specifically responsible for that?
Some other context about the CAOA:
But despite support from top Democrats, the legislation is highly unlikely to move in Congress during this election year. Republicans, many of whom have opposed federal cannabis legalization, control the House, and none have signed on to the bill. Congress has also labored to perform even the most basic duties of governance amid deep divisions within the Republican majority in the House. And few must-pass bills remain, leaving proponents without many opportunities to slip it into a bigger legislative package.
It’s honestly a little bit weird that this story, which the natural packaging of would be “Hey here are a bunch of Democrats working again on getting marijuana federally legal, which is apropos because some more minor things Biden did to loosen marijuana laws are just now coming to pass”, is being packaged as “HERE’S HOW BIDEN IS FUCKING US ON MARIJUANA AGAIN”.
Won’t do shit for the public, doesn’t address past convictions won’t stop arrests, possession or use is still a crime. But it does create tax breaks for businesses.
In typical fashion his supporters will stop reading at reading the headline and interpret it as legalization.
