The Texas Supreme Court rejected the city of San Marcos’ request to review an appeals court decision to overturn the city’s marijuana decriminalization order on Sept. 12.
The court’s denial comes after the Texas 15th Court of Appeals overturned the decriminalization ordinance on April 17. San Marcos voters passed an ordinance to decriminalize possession of less than four ounces of marijuana with nearly 82% of voters approving it in 2022. The decision means the city must continue to enforce state and federal marijuana laws.
“The Texas Supreme Court had the opportunity to stand up for the will of voters and chose not to,” Eric Martinez, executive director of Mano Amiga, a local advocacy group that helped pass the decriminalization order, said. “Our communities passed decriminalization because we’re tired of people being jailed over a small amount of weed while real public safety needs go ignored.”
The denial of the appeal is the latest court decision in the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against San Marcos to overturn marijuana decriminalization. Paxton believes the ordinance violates state drug enforcement law, which cities are barred from doing by the Texas Local Government Code.
Catina Voellinger, executive director for Ground Game Texas, another advocacy group behind the campaign to decriminalize marijuana, called the state Supreme Court’s decision not to review the decision cowardly. She believes the Texas Supreme Court let the lower court ruling stand so they wouldn’t face political pressure for overturning the will of voters.
Voellinger also said voters should pay more attention to the politics and rulings of judges to make informed decisions when voting.
“We have to realize there are three branches of government, and one of those branches is the judicial branch, and these are the people who decided, ultimately, to go against the will of the people,” Voellinger said.
According to Voellinger, while decriminalization has been ruled illegal, city council could vote to deprioritize marijuana enforcement. Under a deprioritization ordinance, marijuana enforcement would be codified as the lowest priority for the San Marcos Police Department.
Voellinger said Ground Game Texas and Mano Amiga are considering running a campaign to deprioritize marijuana in San Marcos, but haven’t finalized any plans.
“We’re not leaving Hays [County], and if the city wanted to, right now, they have the full ability to prioritize marijuana,” Voellinger said. “They can do it without a ballot measure.”
Voellinger also said deprioritization could save the city thousands of dollars. An analysis done by Ground Game Texas claimed that the decriminalization ordinance saved the city $444,150 from 2023-25.
“It is necessary, and especially when city budgets right now aren’t getting federal money and we’re going to be running low on resources here under this new administration,” Voellinger said.
The city of San Marcos is still considering how to move forward with the case.
“The [Texas] Supreme Court’s denial of the city’s petition does not finally dispose of the matter,” a city spokesperson wrote in an email to The Star. “The city is considering its options.”
According to Gilbert Martinez, J.D., the city could be considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Because that involves time, expense and an assessment of likelihood of success, I imagine the city is considering whether it would be worthwhile to appeal,” Martinez wrote in an email to The Star. “I’m guessing, but they could ask the U.S. Supreme Court: 1) whether the Texas Supreme Court erred in denying the appeal and/or 2) whether the state’s overturning of the ballot initiative was legal.”
Much like the appeal to the Texas Supreme Court, an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is not guaranteed to be heard. According to the U.S. Supreme Court’s website, they only hear 100-150 cases a year out of the more than 7,000 requests they receive annually.
