Colorado legislators from both sides of the aisle opposed U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recent attack on legal marijuana at a pre-session panel on Friday, and they invoked Shakespeare to do so.
Moderator Seth Masket, director of the new Center on American Politics at the University of Denver, which hosted the event, asked if the legislature would respond to AG Sessions’ rollback of the Obama administration’s Cole Memo, which directed federal prosecutors in states with legal marijuana to respect legal business operations.
Sen. Owen Hill (R-Colorado Springs) was the first to respond:
“I think what Sessions is doing is, if I could quote someone, ‘full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.’”
He went on to say that other than “some posturing to the media,” he didn’t see practical changes coming at the state level.
State Rep. Chris Hansen (D-Denver) immediately agreed with Hill’s metaphor, saying “I think much of what Senator Hill just said is correct, there is a lot of sound and fury, it’s not clear what the practical impact is going to be at this point,” before going on to raise more specific concerns about the action endangering future industry investment and creating banking issues.
Left unsaid by either legislator was the first part of Macbeth’s famous line, the one they both agreed aptly characterized Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ statement:
“It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
You can watch the full panel here. The question about AG Sessions begins at 15:00.
