There are already numerous opinions from the California Court of Appeal -- and a resulting split -- as to whether Proposition 64 applies to the possession of marijuana in prison. The California Supreme Court has granted review of a couple of those cases; indeed, briefing in the lead case started in 2019, and it is now fully briefed (as of June 2020) and simply awaiting oral argument and decision. So we'll shortly know the definitive answer.
Notwithstanding that fact, Justice Elia writes a 26-page opinion saying how he thinks the issue should be decided.
I get it. Defendants who appeal are entitled to an answer. They don't necessarily want to wait until the California Supreme Court decides the issue. Nor does the Court of Appeal want its timeliness statistics distorted by a case that's just sitting there awaiting a decision by the California Supreme Court.
Still. That's a lot of effort to write an opinion that's ultimately unnecessary. It's not like the California Supreme Court's decision is going to influenced at this point by this most recent case or its analysis. And making the case final now only necessitates that we pay for either appointed counsel to write a petition for review (if the government wins) or pay the Attorney General to write one (if the defendant wins) -- both of which we know full well will be held pending the outcome of the California Supreme Court's decision.
Given all the wasted effort, I might just prefer that we hold the case for now, and then quickly and efficiently dispense with the thing once the Calfornia Supreme Court decides the issue later this year.
