On July 2, 2009, Professor Lyle Craker’s ACLU Drug Law Reform Project lawyers filed the Second Status Update with the US Court of Appeals, First Circuit. The update reports on DEA’s lack of response to the witness and document list filed with DEA on June 5, 2009, in support of Prof. Craker’s Motion to Reconsider DEAs Final Ruling. The lawyers are asking the Court to hold the appellate proceedings inabeyance until we learn the DEAs final decision. DEA’s final order was scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2009, but DEA lawyers have previously indicated that it is not unusual to have a Motion to Reconsider still pending after the effective date of a final agency order.
Crakers lawyers are required to file a status report with the Court of Appeals every 60 days until a decision is finalized by DEA. These status report filings preserve Crakers right to appeal should DEA deny him a license to grow marijuana for research purposes at UMASS Amherst, under contract to MAPS. We are currently comfortable with DEAs delay as we are hoping that new leadership at DEA will soon be appointed by the Obama administration. New leadership at DEA will hopefully be more likely to reverse the rejection of the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ)s recommendation to license Prof. Craker than the Bush-holdovers still running DEA who initially rejected the ALJs recommendation.