Brian Bilodeau v. United States

Whereas Maine has enacted the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Act, 22 M.R.S. § 2421 et seq., which authorizes and circumscribes the use, distribution, possession, and cultivation of medical marijuana, federal law, specifically the Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. § 801 et seq., makes it unlawful for any person to manufacture, distribute or dispense marijuana. Since 2015, Congress has attached a rider to its annual appropriations bill which provides that none of the funds made available to the Department of Justice (DOJ) may be used with respect to Maine and other states to prevent any of them from implementing their own laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana. Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 Pub. L. No. 116-6, § 537, 133 Stat. 13, 138 (2019) (“the rider”). After being indicted on charges of committing medical marijuana-related offenses, Bilodeau argued that his prosecution ran afoul of the rider’s prohibition. The question presented is: Whether and under what circumstances the rider prohibits the DOJ from spending federal funds to prosecute criminal defendants for medical marijuanarelated offenses.