Photo by Matt Cohen.

GOP threats be damned, Mayor Muriel Bowser will move forward with the legalization of marijuana.

Flanked by a majority of the D.C. Council, Attorney General Karl Racine, and Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier, Bowser called the GOP’s bluff, announcing at a press conference this afternoon that marijuana will be legal in the District as of 12:01 a.m. tomorrow.

Late last night, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) sent a letter to Bowser warning that moving forward with enacting Initiative 71 would be unlawful and could lead to her being arrested. But Bowser and the D.C. Council aren’t swayed by Chaffetz and Meadows’ letters, arguing that the law was self-enacted when 65 percent of District voters voted for it in November

“A lot of reasonable people have a different view of this issue,” Bowser said at today’s conference. She added that her lawyers guided her on the issue and city officials—as well as advocates—agree that the city can legally move forward with the initiative.

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said that the initiative was enacted by District voters, and thus the Congressional rider attached to an omnibus budget bill doesn’t apply to it. Of course, the exact language in that rider prevents D.C. from spending any funds to legalize marijuana, but Bowser said that she didn’t think it would cost anything for them to enforce the law.

Moreover, the District’s Attorney General agreed that Chaffetz and Meadows’ claims were invalid. “It is the law,” Racine said. “Nothing more and nothing less.”

While the District is planning to stand behind the will of the voters for now, Bowser said she expects that the fight won’t end there. “I expect to get a call from [U.S. Attorney General] Eric Holder’s office…well, in the next few hours.”