A county judge in Texas has dismissed a lawsuit from Attorney General Ken Paxton filed against the City of Austin.
AG Paxton sought to have the courts throw out a voter approved ordinance that decriminalized the possession of marijuana. Travis County District Court Judge Jan Soifer rejected the challenge, and has dismissed the lawsuit from Paxton. This allows Austin’s marijuana ordinance to stay in effect indefinitely.
“This is a great victory, not only to protect the will of Austin voters, but also to encourage voters in places like Dallas to support our campaigns this year,” said Ground Game Texas, the group behind the marijuana ordinance, in an e-mail.
Austin is the third most populated city in Texas, with nearly a million residents.
Paxton has similarly filed lawsuits against the cities of San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin, and Denton over their marijuana decrim ordinances. At the time of publication, those lawsuits remain active.
According to the Texas Lyceum Poll released last month, 60% of registered voters in Texas are in favor of legalizing marijuana, whereas 31% are opposed, and 9% remain undecided. Of those opposed to legalization, 42% support decriminalizing marijuana, and 47% favor maintaining current prohibition and criminalization policies.
