South Dakota voters made history in 2020 by simultaneously approving ballot initiatives aimed at legalizing recreational and medical use of marijuana. The success of the broader initiative, Amendment A, was especially striking because it prevailed by an eight-point margin in a state that is mostly Republican and largely conservative.
Thanks to a legal challenge backed by Republican Gov. Kristi Noem, however, Amendment A was immediately tied up in litigation. Last fall the South Dakota Supreme Court definitively overturned it, ruling that the measure violated the "single subject" rule for constitutional amendments.
