They aren't suing in a local court and they really should be. If they were, this wouldn't work. The federal government may not be enforcing a lot of these laws right now, but that doesn't mean they're obligated to help you break that law by forcing a tenant they don't allow you to rent to to pay that rent.

It's more like renting out a meth lab to somebody, and then suing them for not paying rent, because the property was a storefront rented specifically for the purpose of selling marijuana. And you could have chosen to sue in a court where it wasn't illegal for you to rent out that property, but you chose one where you were also breaking the law instead.