![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
acroyearSlashdot comment on the PATRIOT crapola
My reply:
On the other hand, there's enough legal education and know-how in the system right now (most Senators and a sizeable # of Congressmen are either lawyers or have been in service for a number of years, and certainly ALL of them have a lawyer on their staff, especially in the committees, to help draft the legislation) to have been able to make the decision that its unconstitutional and not even bothered to vote for or sign it in the first place.
Passing something with so many bluntly unconstitutional clauses, just to say "we're doing *something* (even if for now its the wrong thing)" is just plain poor leadership.
When the PATRIOT act was signed into law, I didn't like a lot of it, but I was one of the people saying "don't get your panties in a wad. Congress and the President are doing their best at legally stepping up enforcement, and due to the urgency they're doing so by re-treading RICO laws. Anything which turns out to be unconstitutional will get struck down by the courts, and life will go on."
Sure enough, some of those provisions of the new law are being tested against our constitutional rights via the court system. This is how our system of government is supposed to work. Bravo for American government!
My reply:
On the other hand, there's enough legal education and know-how in the system right now (most Senators and a sizeable # of Congressmen are either lawyers or have been in service for a number of years, and certainly ALL of them have a lawyer on their staff, especially in the committees, to help draft the legislation) to have been able to make the decision that its unconstitutional and not even bothered to vote for or sign it in the first place.
Passing something with so many bluntly unconstitutional clauses, just to say "we're doing *something* (even if for now its the wrong thing)" is just plain poor leadership.
