"Riverside: City sues registrar to block marijuana ballot measure"

Quoted in this piece.

The intersection of federal and state marijuana laws is “a hornets’ nest of conflicts” but many states – including California – have chosen to allow medical use of marijuana despite the federal prohibition, said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

Riverside’s argument, that the local marijuana measure exceeds voters’ authority, is common in fights over ballot issues, she said.

Levinson said she hasn’t read the proposed initiative or Riverside’s suit, but if the city is right, “It’s not contravening the democratic process. ... It says, ‘This is illegal, so why should it go through the democratic process?’”