Original scientific paper
"Medical Marijuana" and the End of the "Federalist Revolution": An Analysis of Heresthetic Maneuvers at the U.S. Supreme Court in the OCBC and Raich Cases
Marko Radenović
; Department of Political Science Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
Abstract
In the last fi fteen years a “federalist revolution“ has been carried out at the U.S. Supreme Court, led by the then court president William H. Rehnquist. Although it has involved a variety of rulings in diff erent areas, the ones connected with the limitation of regulatory powers of Congress on the basis of the Commerce Clause (the Lopez and Morrison cases) were of the greatest symbolic importance. The liberal antifederalist minority has put up resistance against such changes, until divisions in the conservative federalist majority were brought about over the Gonzales v. Raich case (2005). On the basis of the decision in the Raich case, the liberals largely managed to abolish the eff ects of Lopez and Morrison. Starting from Riker’s concept of heresthetic maneuvers, this paper puts forward the hypothesis that the success of the liberal minority is a result of proactive heresthetic eff orts towards overthrowing the “federalist revolution“. It also points to the importance of a relatively neglected case, United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative (2001), as one of the corner-stones of the antifederalist campaign. The moves of the liberals in the OCBC and Raich cases are analysed in accordance with Riker’s categorisation. The hypothesis is demonstrated through an analysis of material comprising rulings, opinions, minutes of verbal discussions and statements given by participants in the legal proceedings.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
38296
URI
Publication date:
1.6.2006.
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