Federalism

Raich is one of the Court's worst federalism decisions, holding that Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce allows it to ban possession of marijuana that never crossed state lines, and was never sold in any market.

Ilya Somin | 12.4.2025 2:16 PM

A recent petition for certiorari in the case of Canna Provisions, Inc. v. Bondi, asks the Supreme Court to overrule its terrible decision in Gonzales v. Raich (2005), which held that Congress' power to "regulate commerce… among the several states" gives it the authority to forbid the possession and distribution of medical marijuana that had never crossed state lines or even been sold in any market within a state. The Supreme Court should take the case, and make use of the opportunity to overrule Raich.

In my view, Raich is one of the Supreme Court's worst-ever federalism decisions. I laid out the reasons why in a 2006 article that was part of a Cornell Law School symposium about the ruling, published soon after it came down. I won't go over the issues in detail here, but I will note that I........

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