- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.org
- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.org
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed lawsuits against five cities – Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Denton and Elgin – ordinances that aim to eliminate enforcement of low-level marijuana possession offenses.
Paxton alleges the cities’ actions violate state law and the Texas constitution. The lawsuits ask the courts to declare the ordinances void and order the cities to fully enforce state drug laws.
The ordinances were passed after being approved by voters in local ballot propositions. They prohibit police from making arrests or issuing citations for misdemeanor marijuana possession in most cases.
However, Paxton argues the Texas Local Government Code forbids cities from adopting policies not to fully enforce drug laws. He also says the ordinances violate a section of the Texas Constitution stating that city ordinances cannot conflict with state law.
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Texas thinks it gets to ignore the federal government, so why should the cities listen to the state government?
Exactly, someone should make shirts with a bud that says come and take it.
Rules for thee.
“Rule for thee but not for me”
It really is that simple
I mean if a atf agent walked into any legal state they can make all the arrests they want to my knowledge at least if I’m wrong please correct me
You may not have seen the recent drama with Texas refusing to allow the feds to patrol the border.
Yes, but they are correct. Cannabis is a schedule 1 drug at the federal level, same as heroin.
There is nothing legally preventing the federal government from arresting everyone in every state who possesses or sells cannabis. It isn’t relevant that cannabis is legal recreationally or medically at the state level in most of the country
We’re just hoping that the federal government continues its discretionary policy of looking the other way. But, much like Roe, uncodified rights have a recent habit of disappearing overnight
The feds gave nothing to do with this. This is about local police
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what a huge waste of taxpayer money
Yep, and so are the lawsuits he’s filing.
So … it’s okay for Texas to ignore SCOTUS about federal border patrol and razor wire, but it’s not okay for subsections of Texas to ignore Texas law, got it.
Yes, exactly. Republicans see no problem with this.
They have plenty of practice twisting things to fit their narrative. They are all “christians” after all, twisting that bible to meet their needs is a lifelong journey.
This is why they’re so effective. They have zero integrity and will use any slimy trick they can to come out ahead.
Thank god we fixed the energy infrastructure and solved the border crisis in a humane way so now we can move on to what’s really important. /s
I love that they’re so brain-damaged that, out of sheer force of habit, they continue raging against things their own cult doesn’t actually hate anymore (obamacare, choice, weed). “Whoops, uh, let me try, let’s see… Mexican woke trans IRS?!”
This is so fucking weird. Weed is a no-brainer win, even among conservatives. Why double/triple/quadruple down on this stupid policy
They would look weak. It’s not about policy it’s about being tough on “insert any issue” and letting the fanbase lap it up.
The easy part about running on an anti-whatever policy is that if you keep people on drip fed fear and anxiety it hits a lot more people than it ever would in a content society. A miss isn’t a loss because it just falls on deaf ears for the people who are gonna vote that way anyway. If you are on the other side it’s a hit no matter what, you either agree or are disgusted which inches you just that little bit closer to the fear and anxiety point they ultimately want you at.
Reactionary politics are instant dopamine for everyone.
What’s more important than appealing to voters for conservatives? Control.
Yeah but this allows them to be cruel to liberals. Which is an even bigger win than weed
Can’t let the disproportionately-PoC, vote-stripped, prison slave population drop after all.
OK, but here’s what I don’t get. I understand the whole prison-industrial complex thing, but Texas is run by straight up fascists. They’d always be able to come up with something else to put people in prison for. Why weed particularly?
The cynical-but-statistically-true answer is that this law targets the people that they want to put in jail / don’t want to vote. It’s a historical, systemically racist piece of law that benefits the incumbents and status quo.
Otherwise they’d have to consider putting people like themselves in prison, or prosecute white collar crime, and that just won’t stand for the GOP.
Also the historically accurate answer according to the men in the room!
“You want to know what this [war on drugs] was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying?
We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.
Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
~ John Ehrlichman, Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon
Great quote. God that was such a damning interview.
I see where you’re coming from, and maybe that even is how they’re thinking, but I’m reminded of a joke by John Mulaney. After marijuana was legalized in his state, he declared as much to the audience, and then he asked white people to stop clapping: “It was ALWAYS legal for us.” So yes, they do indeed prosecute black people and other PoC more frequently for weed use, but only because they chose to. So, to me, this just emphasizes that they could make any law they wanted work that way. It doesn’t matter if it’s disproportionately committed by PoC or not, they’ll just prosecute that way anyway.
If it ain’t broke no need to fix it? Weed was never harmful except to authoritarian bottom lines
Because they’re lazy and risk-adverse, and they want to stick with what’s been working for them, probably.
Minorities go to jail for it people like me we at most get some kinda rehab probation deal.
How else are they supposed to compete with Chinese sweatshops if they DON’T have their own workforce they can legally pay pennies per day!?
That there is just good ol’ 'murican ingenuity.
/s
Something that’s really important to understand about Republicans in Texas is they believe in small government so long as it’s their government. In theory, city and county governments should supersede state policy in the same way state policy should supersede federal policy per their defenses. However, that only works so long as city and county policy are in lockstep with state policy. Travis County and Austin almost always have some suit coming from Paxton. All of their was made super evident during 2020 COVID when the state wanted cities to decide things unless you were in Bexar (San Antonio), Travis (Austin), and a few others because those counties took COVID seriously based on their data. Here’s an early escalation where Paxton makes it very clear that the only authority cities have comes from the state executive.
They believe they should be able to do whatever they want, and the law should protect them. They make small government or large government arguments as necessary to achieve that goal. There is no integrity here, so we shouldn’t look for it. And we shouldn’t act like pointing out their hypocrisy is productive or will persuade them - they’re aware of their contradictions and they don’t care
Gotta keep that jazz cabbage off the streets or baby Jesus will cry.
But joe rogan said Texas was a paradise!
Ah yes. The criminal Ken Paxton always fighting the good fight! Thanks Ken for again showing how out of touch you are with the modern world.
Texas is the shithole country Donald Trump was talking about back in the day, he just didn’t know it.
Shouldn’t Paxton be in jail right now…🤔🤔
He should. And then corruption happened, and he got away with it.
Reminding everyone that a record number of democrats crossed the aisle to acquit him on the biggest smoking gun issue they could have impeached him with. Every progressive in Texas should know their names and remember them when it’s time to vote.
You can read all about it here, and article 4 is the smoking gun: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/09/16/ken-paxton-impeachment-vote/
What a cool party of freedom and personal responsibility
Seriously someone save some of that razor wire for this idiot. He’s finally going to have his day in court come April 🙏
Career criminals shouldn’t be able to file lawsuits.
