Aghast at what she and many other "medpot" activists viewed as a misappropriation of federal resources better used in the war against terrorism, Raich and her husband, Oakland attorney Robert Raich, decided something must be done. They recruited [Diane Monson], who had had her home raided and six medical pot plants uprooted by federal agents, and filed a lawsuit in October 2002 against the U.S. government.

Raich and Monson argued that the commerce clause did not apply to their use of medical marijuana. Monson grows her marijuana at home with seeds from the prior year's crop -- nothing ever crosses state lines.

Federal lawyers argue that the medical marijuana of Monson and Raich, much like [Roscoe Filburn]'s wheat, remains a crop subject to federal authority even if it doesn't enter the stream of commerce.