South Dakota Supreme Court rules against pot legalization
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The South Dakota Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court’s ruling that nullified a voter-passed amendment to the state constitution that would have legalized recreational marijuana use.
Gov. Kristi Noem instigated the legal fight to strike down the amendment
passed by voters in November. Though the Republican governor opposed marijuana legalization as a social ill, her administration’s arguments in court centered on technical violations to the state constitution.
The court sided with those arguments, ruling that the measure would have violated the state’s requirement that constitutional amendments deal with just one subject and would have created broad changes to state government.