My Version of the Marijuana Legalization Act

[Peter]

There have been 5 abstains, meaning less than 2/3 of the Senate is voting and this bill lacks enough representation to be passed or defeated...

That interpretation of the Constitution is frankly wrong.

Article I, Section 5, Clause 1:
Clause 1. The Senate shall establish its own rules and proceedings, but no vote taken in the Senate shall be valid unless a majority of the Senators shall have cast votes

A majority of Senators have cast votes, the vote is valid.

[Peter]

There appears to be a controversy as to whether this is a valid vote.

As the Attorney General, I consider this Bill to have been passed under a valid vote (the worst possible result is now 3-2-5). I urge the Senate to consider it as such.

For this to end in Court, somebody would have to have standing to sue in the Court. The only way one could have standing is if one was adversely affected by this as a Law.

The first obstacle here is that this Bill must become Law - a Presidential signature is required; It is my suspicision that the President will veto, and then the entire issue becomes moot, unless the Senate is able to override (which I doubt).

If this Bill somehow becomes Law, I will try to contrive a way for somebody to have standing, so that this can be resolved in the Courts.

For the record, Harry is the outstanding vote on this Bill.

[Peter]

I'm glad this mess is resolved. I hope the Senate doesn't attempt an override.