Federal Judge Not Happy with Arizona’s Failure to Pick a Side in Its Medical Marijuana Lawsuit

Arizona Republic:  “U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton tore apart the state’s medical-marijuana lawsuit Monday, saying Arizona has to pick a side in the conflict over state and federal law.  Bolton stopped short of dismissing the case, saying she would issue a ruling later. But she told Assistant Attorney General Lori Davis she would throw it out unless the state decides whether or not to support its own law.  ‘That’s how lawsuits work,’ Bolton said. ‘The plaintiff takes a position’.”

Phoenix New Times:  “Governor Jan Brewer’s lawsuit against Arizona’s medical marijuana law took a beating today in federal court, where a judge told the state’s lawyers to pick a side on the issue. . . . Brewer and Horne, however, don’t have the chutzpah to actually argue against the voter-approved law — something that could be politically dangerous. . . . Their lawsuit relies on the creation of 20 fictitious defendants — 10 who believe the new state law violates federal law, and 10 who don’t believe it — to bolster their position that a dispute exists.  But Bolton said today that she planned to dismiss all of the fictitious defendants, adding that the tactic cannot ‘persist’ in federal court.  Arizona would need to choose which side it’s on before the suit can proceed, Bolton told Lori Davis, an assistant attorney general.”

East Vally Tribune:  “A federal judge chided Attorney General Tom Horne Monday, saying he was asking her to do his job: advising state agencies on the law. . . . ‘You don’t come to court and say, ‘Well, this our best advice, you give it a shot,” she told Assistant Attorney General Lori Davis.  Davis protested that the state finds itself in ‘an impossible position,’ being told by voters to license dispensaries but fearing that the workers who process the applications can be charged with helping facilitate the distribution of marijuana. She said Bolton should tell the state – and the governor – whether it’s OK to proceed.  ‘That’s what the AG is for, Bolton responded. ‘It’s not the courts that give (legal) advice’.”