It seems the United States is finally catching on to Aleister Crowley’s ages old ethos of “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” Well, perhaps the governmental grind isn’t quite ready unleash its citizens into an borderline anarchist society, but the people have been given a little more freedom than what they’ve had in the past.
Earlier this week, the U.S Supreme Court overturned the country’s prohibition on sports gambling. This means it might not be long before American citizens have the ability to wager on every sporting event imaginable. Interestingly, not only does the ruling serve to beef up the $100 billion gambling industry, removing it from the hands of criminal organizations, it is an encouraging in the grand scheme of marijuana reform.
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In the case of Murphy vs. NCAA, the Supreme Court voted 7-to-2 to end the ban on sports gambling in the Untied States. “The legalization of sports gambling requires an important policy choice, but the choice is not ours to make,” the nation’s highest court declared. “Congress can regulate sports gambling directly, but if it elects not to do so, each State is free to act on its own.”
The last part of Supreme Court’s verdict is important, as a move to uphold the outlaw status on sports gambling would have blown the states rights issue right out of the water. This could have been bad news for those jurisdictions that have legalized marijuana.
Although there are no guarantees that a weed war would have been waged, the decision could have given the federal government the ability to step in and shakedown the cannabis trade. But because the decision went in the appropriate direction, the marijuana issue is now less susceptible to challenges by the federal government.
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It is possible for Congress to ban sports gambling nationwide, but it cannot dictate those terms at the state level,” legal experts say. States have the authority to essentially “do what thou wilt” without the risk of catching any heat from national law enforcement agencies. This includes marijuana legalization. The federal government cannot force states back into a prohibitionary standard. Although it has always been this way, the Supreme Court decision provides some much-needed clarity.
It’s funny how this case, which was filed by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, ended with some wise words from the one of the most ardent opponents of marijuana legalization in the country. Christie posted to Twitter on Monday: This is “a great day for the rights of states and their people to make their own decisions. New Jersey citizens wanted sports gambling and the federal Gov’t had no right to tell them no.”
