Nov. 23: Rhode Island's cannabis retail license window stays open after a federal judge dismissed all 3 residency lawsuits as moot

Rhode Island's application window for new adult-use cannabis retail licenses closes at 4 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 23, and it now runs without a federal court fight hanging over it. On Wednesday, Oct. 21, U.S. District Judge Melissa R. DuBose dismissed all three lawsuits that had challenged the state's residency rules for cannabis licenses, according to The Marijuana Herald and Law360.

DuBose concluded that changes lawmakers made to state law earlier this year had rendered the constitutional disputes moot, The Marijuana Herald reported. Law360 reported that the judge found the recent changes mooted three lawsuits challenging the state's social equity and adult-use cannabis licensing program and ordered the cases dismissed.

The ruling ends the cases brought by Justyna Jensen, John Kenney and Justin Palmore against the Rhode Island Cannabis Control Commission. It does not decide whether the original residency requirements were constitutional, The Marijuana Herald noted.

What the lawsuits challenged

The three suits targeted provisions of Rhode Island's cannabis law that favored in-state residents over applicants from other states, including residency requirements affecting adult-use cannabis businesses and social equity licenses, according to The Marijuana Herald. The plaintiffs argued those provisions violated the U.S. Constitution's Dormant Commerce Clause, which generally bars states from discriminating against interstate commerce. The plaintiffs also raised equal protection challenges to parts of the licensing framework, the Herald reported in an Oct. 8 story citing Law360.

The litigation began in May 2024, when California cannabis entrepreneur Justyna Jensen sued the commission in federal court in Providence, arguing that the residency requirement in the original Cannabis Act violated interstate commerce protections, Rhode Island Current reported in August. That same month, Florida resident John Kenney filed a second federal lawsuit objecting to the requirement. A California resident filed a third suit on similar grounds on Nov. 24, 2025, according to Rhode Island Current.

How the cases stalled licensing

DuBose first dismissed the complaints in February 2025, since two were filed before the commission enacted the state's first cannabis regulations in May 2025, Rhode Island Current reported. The federal appeals court in Boston revived the cases in December and directed DuBose to rule on their merits.

In April, DuBose issued a preliminary injunction that blocked regulators from processing applications or holding licensing lotteries after finding that the challenged requirements were likely unconstitutional, according to The Marijuana Herald. Rhode Island Current reported that the April 8 order barred the commission from holding a lottery and from reviewing the 97 applications that had been submitted for 20 new retail licenses.

The fix lawmakers passed

Lawmakers responded with Senate Bill 3313, which Gov. Daniel McKee signed on June 10. According to The Marijuana Herald, the law eliminated residency requirements, revised social equity eligibility standards and set up a new licensing application process. Rhode Island Current reported that the amended Cannabis Act no longer requires all retail license holders to be majority-owned by Rhode Island residents, and that it voided the original application process.

Regulators then asked the court to lift the injunction, arguing the complaints were moot. Kenney and his attorneys supported that request, while Jensen and her legal team opposed it, arguing the new law still disadvantaged out-of-state applicants because they would need to secure property in Rhode Island on a short timeline to qualify, Rhode Island Current reported.

DuBose was not persuaded. "She has had years, not months, to scour the Rhode Island market in search of a suitable property," the judge wrote in her August ruling, as quoted by Rhode Island Current. "She has also had at least four months to search for property since this court entered its injunction."

On Aug. 14, DuBose dissolved the preliminary injunction. "Defendants are free to implement the law as they see fit, including accepting applications, holding a lottery, and issuing adult-use recreational and social equity cannabis licenses," she wrote, according to Rhode Island Current. She also wrote that "the General Assembly's passage of SB 3313 removed provisions deemed likely to violate the Constitution and because of that, the controversy at issue in the preliminary injunction is no longer immediate or real."

Dissolving the injunction did not end the lawsuits themselves, The Marijuana Herald reported. State officials asked earlier this month for all three cases to be dismissed, and the Oct. 21 ruling granted that request.

What the licensing round looks like now

The commission reopened its Adult-Use Retail Licensing Portal on Aug. 7. Under the expansion, regulators may issue up to 24 retail licenses across six geographic zones, according to the commission and Vicente LLP. Each zone has one license reserved for a social equity applicant and one for a workers' cooperative, and the commission will choose among qualified applicants by lottery, Vicente LLP wrote in an Oct. 26 client alert.

Social equity businesses must be majority-owned by one or more people who can show they were disproportionately affected by criminal enforcement of past prohibition, including by being arrested or having a family member who was, Rhode Island Current reported.

The commission's application page lists three deadlines:

• Nov. 6: Social equity applicants seeking to change their interest holders or corporate structure must file an Interest Holder Change Request.
• Nov. 23, 4 p.m. Eastern: The retail application portal closes. All application materials, including final zoning approval, must be submitted by then.
• Dec. 4: National Crime Information Center background checks are due for all majority owners, defined as anyone with more than a 50% interest, of retail license applicants.

Vicente LLP noted that the background-check requirement applies even to majority owners who already completed a check during the first application round. It also wrote that a social equity applicant must apply under the same entity and ownership structure the commission previously approved unless it gets a change approved, and that a denied change request cannot be resubmitted during this window. In that case, the applicant can still apply for a social equity license under its original structure or for a non-social equity license, the firm wrote.

Applicants still waiting on local zoning approval should confirm they can get it in time, because final zoning approval must be uploaded before the portal closes, Vicente LLP advised. After the portal closes, the commission will review applications and qualify applicants for the selection process, according to the firm.

Why it matters beyond Rhode Island

The plaintiffs argued that tying license eligibility to where owners live violated the Dormant Commerce Clause. In Rhode Island's case, the lawsuits ended because the legislature removed the challenged rules, not because a court ruled on whether those rules were lawful, as The Marijuana Herald noted. That leaves the constitutional question unresolved in these cases.

For applicants, the practical takeaway is the calendar. With the lawsuits dismissed, the commission's remaining dates are Nov. 6, Nov. 23 and Dec. 4, and the commission will choose among qualified applicants by lottery after the portal closes.

The commission's application page also reminds hemp licensees that a new federal limit of 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container for hemp-derived products takes effect Dec. 11, 2026.