Legalized marijuana, sports betting and new traffic tolls in Manhattan are just some of the measures Democrats believe they can push through the New York Legislature in a 2019 session that begins this week with their party in control of both chambers and the governor’s office for the first time in a decade.
The momentum for both initiatives is building. With neighboring Massachusetts legalizing pot and New Jersey moving to do the same, New York's rationale for following suit is getting stronger. Some 63% of voters supported the idea in a recent poll. The need to move sooner rather than later was obvious when a New York Times investigation this month showed marijuana arrests were almost exclusively of African-Americans and Hispanics, even though whites use pot just as often.
A ruling in a U.S. Supreme Court case about sports gambling on Monday has positive implications for marijuana legalization.
The case, Murphy v. NCAA, centered on whether the Constitution’s anti-commandeering doctrine prevents the federal government from forcing states to keep prohibitions of certain federally banned activities on their own lawbooks.
In a landmark ruling published this morning, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with New Jersey. The federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, passed by Congress in 1992, banned wagering on professional and college sports. The Act also explicitly prohibited states from sponsoring or authorizing such gaming.