In 1996, California voters passed the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, which allowed seriously ill residents of the state to have access to marijuana for medical purposes. Angel Raich and Diane Monson are California residents who were using medical marijuana pursuant to their doctors' recommendations for their serious medical conditions.

County deputy sheriffs and federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents investigated Raich's and Monson's use of medical marijuana. Although Raich and Monson were found to be in compliance with the state law, the federal agents seized and destroyed their cannabis plants.

Raich and Monson brought suit against the attorney general of the United States and the head of the DEA, seeking injunctive and declaratory relief prohibiting the enforcement of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to the extent it prevents them from possessing, obtaining, or manufacturing cannabis for their personal medical use. The district court denied the respondents' motion for a preliminary injunction. A divided panel of the court of appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed and ordered the district court to enter a preliminary injunction. The United States appealed.

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