Opinion
7196-19
09-16-2022
JO ANN SHARP & RANDALL W. SHARP, Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER
Elizabeth A. Copeland, Judge.
Currently before the Court is Petitioners' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, filed on March 2, 2022. (Index No. 35.) Respondent filed a response to Petitioners' motion on August 25, 2022. (Index No. 39.)
In their Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, Petitioners assert that the "federal government's current regulation of intrastate production and sales of cannabis is no longer necessary and proper under the Commerce Clause." Although Petitioners recognize that the Supreme Court ruled to the contrary in Gonzales v. Raich, 545 U.S. 1 (2005), they contend that the reasoning in Raich has been hollowed out by factual and legal developments, including the proliferation of state-sanctioned marijuana businesses (introducing new federalism questions), subsequent Commerce Clause jurisprudence, and the statement of Justice Thomas in Standing Akimbo, LLC v. United States, 141 S.Ct. 2236 (2021), where the Supreme Court declined to review the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit's decision in the case below.
The Supreme Court has advised the lower courts that "[i]f a precedent of [the Supreme Court] has direct application in a case, yet appears to rest on reasons rejected in some other line of decisions, the [lower courts] should follow the case which directly controls, leaving to [the Supreme Court] the prerogative of overruling its own decisions." Rodriguez de Quijas v. Shearson/Am. Express, Inc., 490 U.S. 477, 484 (1989); see also Agostini v. Felton, 521 U.S. 203, 237 (1997); United States v. Cox, 906 F.3d 1170, 1183 (10th Cir. 2018). Raich directly controls the question here, and we accordingly will follow it unless and until the Supreme Court determines its previous decision should be overruled. As such, it is
ORDERED that Petitioners' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, filed on March 2, 2022, is denied. It is further
ORDERED that the parties shall contact the undersigned's Chambers at (202) 521-0670, no later than September 23, 2022, for the purpose of scheduling a conference call to discuss further proceedings in this case.