Question about Constitutional Authority and Law Enforcement?
I was thinking about this following the defeat of Proposition 19 in California, and I got really confused about the supposed conflict between the proposed state law (Marijuana Legalized) and the federal law (Marijuana Illegal).
See, I thought I understood the Supremacy Clause up until this point. A state or local law cannot INTERFERE with a Federal law or policy. However, I don’t see where legalizing marijuana, at least on the books of California’s Penal Code, would be in violation of the Supremacy clause.
At the very least, it means that local and state law enforcement enforces the federal law. And then, if the Federal law is ever overturned, then California does not have to pass its own measure legalizing marijuana when that happens.
However, I do not see why the local or state law enforcement would have to enforce the marijuana law in this situation. They are employees of the state or the city, and they should not have to answer to the federal government. Shouldn’t the Federal Government enforce their own laws if they want to? Where in the Constitution does it grant Congress the authority to dictate what cities and states enforce as law?
If somebody could please explain this to me? I don’t see what the problem is.
And sorry for the long post.
There is no conflict.
We have long recognized in this country that state and federal criminal justice systems are entirely separate so there is no Supremacy Clause issue unless the states were to require something that the federal government forbids or vice versa.
There is also nothing in the constitution that requires state and city police to enforce federal laws, but most states give local law enforcement the authority to arrest for federal crimes.