Still a crook any way you look
A Hays County judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against the City of San Marcos in response to a proposition decriminalizing low-level marijuana possession.
Judge Sherri Tibbe dropped Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s suit against San Marcos on Monday. Paxton has already filed a motion to appeal the dismissal, according to the city.
Paxton filed the lawsuit against five Texas cities — Killeen, Denton, Elgin, Austin and San Marcos — back in January. In a press release, Paxton said he will “not stand idly by as cities run by pro-crime extremists deliberately violate Texas law and promote the use of illicit drugs that harm our communities.”
A Travis County judge dismissed the suit against the City of Austin in June.
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When Prop A passed, San Marcos police stopped arresting and citing people found with small amounts of marijuana except in limited circumstances. But the department didn’t adopt a formal policy reflecting that, citing a Texas code that prohibits cities from implementing policies that prevent full enforcement of drug laws.
Texas State University police can still issue arrests and citations for any amount of marijuana in one’s possession, according to the university’s police department. That’s because the university can set its own rules separate from the city’s ordinances.
See here for more on the original lawsuits, and here for more on the dismissal of the Austin case. It’s not clear to me in either of these what the reasons were for the dismissal – it looks mostly like the judges didn’t think the suits had merit – so it’s not clear to me what their fate will be on appeal. I mean, the Supreme Court is gonna do what it’s gonna do when it gets to them, and the Lege could step in and clarify matters next year as well. So you can continue to smoke ’em if you got ’em in San Marcos, as long as you’re not on the Texas State campus and you realize that this may be a short-term situation. The city of Dallas appears poised to jump on this bandwagon as well, for however long the ride lasts.
UPDATE: The Trib published a story this morning about the San Marcos and Austin litigation as well as an update on where the other cities are. As to why the San Marcos lawsuit was dismissed, the Trib writes “Hays County district judge Sherri Tibbe dismissed Paxton’s lawsuit, upholding the argument that the state was not injured when San Marcos reduced arrests for misdemeanor marijuana possession and that it allowed for resources to be used for higher-priority public safety needs”.
If there’s anyone in the State of TX government who needs a good long ‘puff, puff, pass’ session, it’s good ‘ole Ken Paxton. Maybe it would help him forget his own legal troubles and/or give him some time for some much needed introspection.