My Version of the Marijuana Legalization Act

[Bono]

Debate ends today. Will the presiding officer put this to a vote?

[JohnFKennedy]

I hereby open the voting.

Would all Senators please Vote Yea, Nay or abstain.

[Bono]

Yea.

[The Dowager Mod]

Abstain.

[Redefeatbush04]

I urge my congressman to ABSTAIN, on the grounds that it is a good idea, but that is also makes marijuana legal in public places.....which is a bad idea.

[John Dibble]

I urge my congressman to ABSTAIN, on the grounds that it is a good idea, but that is also makes marijuana legal in public places.....which is a bad idea.

State/regional laws will still apply.

[StevenNick]

Abstain.

[Nym90]

Aye.

[Defarge]

Abstain. 

[Akno21]

You people got elected to the Senate to vote, now vote There are more abstains here than there are votes!

[King]

There are 3 abstains, 1 more and this bill automatically fails as 2/3 of the senate fails to vote.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

An abstention is not the same as not voting, King.

[JohnFKennedy]

Nay.

[??????????]

aye

[John Dibble]

aye

Glad to see StatesRights voting for states rights.

[??????????]

aye

Glad to see StatesRights voting for states rights.

Yes, I believe in Mary Jane legalization.

[Siege40]

Abstain.

Siege

[True Democrat]

Abstain

The money should partly go to ending the defecit, but most of the money should go fighting harder drugs.  Also, a high tax should be placed on marijuana.  Finally, in this bill, treatment centers should be built using the mone from the taxes.

[King]

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...

[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.

[John Dibble]

Abstain

The money should partly go to ending the defecit, but most of the money should go fighting harder drugs.  Also, a high tax should be placed on marijuana.  Finally, in this bill, treatment centers should be built using the mone from the taxes.

The money might have to go to regulation costs rather than the deficit or fighting harder drugs.

I'd rather the money from the taxes go to something other than treatment centers. I don't think treatment centers would be the business of the federal government anyways(the regions could do it with the money they save on prison costs should they choose legalization). Also, we don't want the tax to be too high - we are attempting to eliminate the black market, so we need to foster an environment where it can't prosper.

Anyways, the other details could be established in a seperate bill.

[Akno21]

Why can't you guys just vote?

[Redefeatbush04]

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.

I have to disagree. A majority of senators abstained from casting votes. The bill is dead.

[John Dibble]

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.

I have to disagree. A majority of senators abstained from casting votes. The bill is dead.

Do we have a precedent, or will this have to go to court?

[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.