In a decision that’s got the cannabis industry buzzing louder than a beehive, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, December 16, 2025, declined to take up a challenge to federal marijuana laws brought by four licensed companies.
This ruling, or lack thereof, leaves the $32 billion legal marijuana industry looking to the Trump White House for potential reform, especially on the hot-button issue of rescheduling cannabis.
Let’s rewind a bit to October 2023, when Verano Holding Corp. first took on the Justice Department with a lawsuit, setting the stage for this legal showdown.
Joined by Canna Provisions, a Massachusetts retailer, Gyasi Sellers of Treevit delivery service, and Wiseacre Farm, a cultivator, these companies aimed to challenge federal marijuana laws before the Supreme Court for the first time since 2005.
They argued that with over two dozen states now allowing adult-use marijuana, the old 2005 Gonzales vs. Raich ruling is as outdated as a flip phone, claiming the factual ground has shifted beneath it.
But both a lower federal court in Massachusetts and an appellate court swatted down their constitutional arguments, leaving them to pin their hopes on the highest court in the land.
On December 12, 2025, the justices huddled behind closed doors to mull over the petition in the case titled Canna Provisions et al v. Bondi, only to ultimately pass on hearing it four days later.
The companies threw everything at the wall, citing a 2021 comment from Justice Clarence Thomas hinting that federal marijuana law might not be “necessary or proper” in today’s context.
They even claimed the Constitution itself grants them a historic right to grow and sell marijuana, while alleging the Controlled Substances Act stomps on their Fifth Amendment due process protections.
Josh Schiller, a partner at Boies Schiller and an attorney for the plaintiffs, previously told MJBizDaily the case was an attempt to “shake the box a little bit” after federal reform stalled in Congress and beyond.
Well, if shaking the box means getting a cold shoulder from the Supreme Court, mission accomplished—but it’s hard to see this as anything but a missed opportunity to address a patchwork of laws that’s confusing at best and oppressive at worst.
Instead of tackling the progressive push to normalize what many still see as a gateway drug, the court’s silence leaves hardworking business owners in limbo, caught between state freedoms and federal overreach.
This legal dead end came just months after the Biden administration’s marijuana rescheduling effort, where health regulators admitted cannabis has accepted medical uses, prompting a Justice Department proposal to downgrade it to Schedule 3—a move that fizzled out before Trump’s inauguration.
Now, all eyes turn to the Trump White House, which is reportedly mulling over directives to reschedule marijuana and even cover certain CBD treatments under Medicare, though a much-anticipated executive order failed to drop on December 16, 2025.
Insiders familiar with Oval Office talks involving cannabis industry leaders, lawmakers, and Cabinet officials suggest an announcement might come as early as Wednesday, December 18, 2025—here’s hoping it’s more than just smoke and mirrors for an industry desperate for clarity.
