The group behind efforts to legalize recreational marijuana in Arizona has asked a judge to throw out a lawsuit seeking to keep the initiative off the November ballot.
Attorneys with the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol wrote in court documents that efforts to block the initiative are more about politics and ideology than defending state law.
They also said paternal concern by the campaign's opponents should not keep voters from making up their own minds.
Legal arguments against the initiative appear weak, but causing delays can be just as effective as winning in the courtroom, said trial attorney Scott Halverson, who is not involved in the case.
“Even if it’s decided later that it was really a proper initiative, the problem becomes as a practical matter, how on earth do we get this properly in front of the voters in time for the election?” Halverson said.
The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act requires ballots to be done 45 days before the election, according to a spokesperson for the Arizona Secretary of State. Voters will head to the polls Nov. 8.
Attorneys for the campaign to legalize recreational marijuana challenged arguments for a judge to issue preliminary injunction and keep the initiative off the ballot in a 16-page filing.
One of the arguments in favor of the injunction is parts of the initiative are unconstitutional. It alleges that a 100-word summary of the measure does not tell voters everything the initiative would do, if it’s approved, and that makes it misleading to the point of fraud.
Attorneys for supporters of initiative denied the allegation. If there are questions about the meaning of certain language in the measure, they wrote those should be litigated after the measure is adopted.
“One thing that the supporters of the initiative are saying is that it is premature to try and argue that the initiative is illegal, or unconstitutional, or anything of that nature,” Halverson said. "It’s just not the proper time or forum to do that."
The sides are due in court Aug. 12.
Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services contributed to this story.
