Mastercard is a several hundred billion dollar company.

They're actually literally the kind of institution that should be willing to open themselves up to liability to fight for citizens rights, instead of always taking a hard-line against citizens at the behest of the Federal government. They absolutely have the money to fight such a thing in court, if the Federal government cracked down on them... and to remind you.... The Fed's haven't done that. I would say they had a leg to stand on vis a vis liability if the Federal government had made an example of them in the past nearly 30 years since medical marijuana was first legalized in California in 1996.

This is just puritan bullshit with a hand-wavey excuse as to why.

They have the money to fight it and easily win, if they cared. They don't. It's not about liability. The Federal government has a long history of not bringing a case unless they're absolutely going to win it, they don't waste the money. They haven't been liable yet in decades, so why now?

Why now is an exercise in puritan control. Just like these chucklefucks do to sex workers in the porn industry.