By Matt Ferner
Posted: Updated:
The Republican-controlled House passed legislation on Thursday to force President Barack Obama to crack down on states that have legalized marijuana in any form.
Introduced by Reps. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the ENFORCE the Law Act (H.R. 4138) would allow the House or the Senate to sue the president for “failure to faithfully execute federal laws,” including those related to immigration, health care and marijuana.
“President Obama has established a disturbing pattern of cherry picking the laws he wishes to enforce,” Issa said in a statement. “The Constitution charges the President with the responsibility to faithfully execute all the laws and not just the ones he supports.”
A Judiciary Committee report submitted by Goodlatte last week regarding H.R. 4138 chastised the Obama administration for selective enforcement of the Controlled Substance Act, which prohibits marijuana outright. “The decision by the Obama administration not to enforce the CSA in entire states is not a a valid exercise of prosecutorial discretion,” the report reads. “The guidance of U.S. Attorneys establishes a formal, department-wide policy of selective non-enforcement of an Act of Congress. This infringes on Congress’s lawmaking authority, by, in effect, amending the flat prohibitions of the CSA to permit the possession, distribution, and cultivation of marijuana so long as that conduct is in compliance with state law.”