Mackenzie Reilly is one of five Jersey City police officers fighting her firing for cannabis use.

By Sophie Nieto-Munoz, New Jersey Monitor

Nearly two weeks after a federal judge said he would not yet rule on whether marijuana use is legal for New Jersey police officers, the Civil Service Commission is set to decide the fate of another police officer who was fired for cannabis use.

On Wednesday, the commission is expected to hear the case of Mackenzie Reilly, a Jersey City police officer who was fired in August 2023 after a drug test showed his urine was positive for cannabis.

Reilly is one of five Jersey City police officers fighting their firing for cannabis use and seeking dismissal of a lawsuit Jersey City filed against the state in October. The suit argues that the federal cannabis ban preempts state law legalizing the substance.

An administrative law judge has recommended that the commission reverse Reilly’s dismissal.

New Jersey legalized cannabis in 2021, and after the marijuana legalization law went into effect, the state’s attorney general stated that police officers could not be disciplined for using marijuana legally and off-duty.

When the state issued this memo, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop (D-LA) announced that the city would defy the state and continue to prohibit its officials from using cannabis. Fulop is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2025.

Reilly, Omar Polanco, Norhan Mansour, Montavious Patten and Richie Lopez are the five police officers named as defendants in the lawsuit. They argue that they should be allowed to legally use cannabis and still keep their jobs as police officers. The Civil Service Commission has already ordered the city to reinstate Mansour and Polanco, though it is unclear whether the city has reinstated them.

In their lawsuit against New Jersey, the city’s lawyers argued that police officers are subject to a federal law that prohibits people who use cannabis from possessing firearms and ammunition. That federal law, they say, takes precedence over the state’s law legalizing marijuana. But the Civil Service Commission and administrative law judges have repeatedly found otherwise.

The five officers and the Jersey City Police Officers Benevolent Association argue that the city does not have standing to sue and pursue claims in federal court simply because they lost the state labor case.

On August 2, the judge in charge of the case declined to intervene and suspended his rulings at least until the cases of all civil servants fighting against their dismissal have been heard by the Civil Service Commission.

This story was first published by the New Jersey Monitor.

According to the New Jersey Attorney General, the company illegally discriminated against patients who used medical marijuana by withdrawing a job offer