New York City Law Used to Close Shops Selling Marijuana Unconstitutional: Judge

People pass in front of the Weed World store in New York on March 31, 2021. Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

A law in New York City that has been used to close more than 1,200 shops violates constitutional rights, a judge has ruled.

The law lets the Office of the Sheriff of the City of New York immediately padlock businesses suspected of illegally selling marijuana products. After an administrative hearing, the sheriff can order the business closed for one year, even if the administrative arbiter recommends against it.

“If the final arbiter has the authority to confer no weight to the hearing, there is no real meaningful ‘opportunity to be heard,’ which vastly increases the risk of erroneous deprivation and raises a due process concern,” New York Supreme Court Judge Kevin Kerrigan, presiding over a trial-level court, said in the Oct. 29 ruling.

The portions of the city code that authorize administrative arbiters to issue recommendations on closures and that enable the sheriff to disregard the recommendations are unconstitutional under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which guarantees due process rights, Kerrigan ruled.

The ruling was made in a case brought by ASA 456 Corp., known as Cloud Corner. The store was shut down by the sheriff in September for one year after the sheriff decided against adopting a recommendation from the arbiter.

The sheriff entered Cloud Corner when it was not open, the arbiter found. City law only permits the sheriff to conduct inspections for illegal sales during a business’s operating hours.

The sheriff had argued that because the hours for Cloud Corner shown on Google covered the time when deputies entered the store, the finding of illegal sales was valid.

“The sequence of events that transpired here resulted in the closure of Petitioner’s business notwithstanding that it was not found, on this record, to have engaged in any illegal or unlicensed activity, which is a clear violation of due process under the law,” Kerrigan said.

The city has appealed the ruling.

“Illegal smoke shops and their dangerous products endanger young New Yorkers and our quality of life, and we continue to padlock illicit storefronts and protect communities from the health and safety dangers posed by illegal operators,” a spokesperson for New York Mayor Eric Adams told news outlets in a statement.

Authorities said some 2,800 stores were illegally selling marijuana as of May. More than 1,200 have been closed under the law, according to the city.

Lance Lazzaro, an attorney representing Cloud Corner, told The Epoch Times that the decision shows that the law violates the due process rights of store owners.

“This decision will allow every store that has been shut down to be reopened immediately and to sue for damages associated with the closing of the store, including but not limited to loss of business, operational costs, and damage to their reputation,” he said. “The damages will be astronomical.”