South Dakota's highest court will decide the fate of a voter-approved constitutional amendment legalizing recreational marijuana this spring.
South Dakota Supreme Court justices will hear oral arguments in a challenge to Amendment A at 10 a.m. on April 28 at the state Capitol after attorneys representing the organization South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws appealed a lower court ruling striking down the amendment.
In February, a Hughes County judge ruled the ballot measure, which earned 54% support in the Nov. 3 election, unconstitutional because it violated a requirement that constitutional amendments be limited to a single topic. That it also gave sole governing authority around marijuana to the South Dakota Department of Revenue, not the Legislature, also factored into Judge Christina Klinger's decision.