mirror of
https://github.com/nhammer514/textfiles-politics.git
synced 2024-10-01 01:15:38 -04:00
589 lines
32 KiB
Plaintext
589 lines
32 KiB
Plaintext
Feel free to copy this article far and wide, but please
|
|
keep my name and this sentence on it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Bill of Rights, a Status Report
|
|
by Eric Postpischil
|
|
|
|
4 September 1990
|
|
|
|
6 Hamlett Drive, Apt. 17
|
|
Nashua, NH 03062
|
|
|
|
edp@jareth.enet.dec.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
How many rights do you have? You should check, because it
|
|
might not be as many today as it was a few years ago, or
|
|
even a few months ago. Some people I talk to are not
|
|
concerned that police will execute a search warrant without
|
|
knocking or that they set up roadblocks and stop and
|
|
interrogate innocent citizens. They do not regard these as
|
|
great infringements on their rights. But when you put
|
|
current events together, there is information that may be
|
|
surprising to people who have not yet been concerned: The
|
|
amount of the Bill of Rights that is under attack is
|
|
alarming.
|
|
|
|
Let's take a look at the Bill of Rights and see which
|
|
aspects are being pushed on or threatened. The point here
|
|
is not the degree of each attack or its rightness or
|
|
wrongness, but the sheer number of rights that are under
|
|
attack.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amendment I
|
|
|
|
Congress shall make no law respecting an
|
|
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
|
|
free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom
|
|
of speech, or of the press; or the right of the
|
|
people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
|
|
Government for a redress of grievances.
|
|
|
|
ESTABLISHING RELIGION: While campaigning for his first
|
|
term, George Bush said "I don't know that atheists should
|
|
be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered
|
|
patriots." Bush has not retracted, commented on, or
|
|
clarified this statement, in spite of requests to do so.
|
|
According to Bush, this is one nation under God. And
|
|
apparently if you are not within Bush's religious beliefs,
|
|
you are not a citizen. Federal, state, and local
|
|
governments also promote a particular religion (or,
|
|
occasionally, religions) by spending public money on
|
|
religious displays.
|
|
|
|
FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION: Robert Newmeyer and Glenn
|
|
Braunstein were jailed in 1988 for refusing to stand in
|
|
respect for a judge. Braunstein says the tradition of
|
|
rising in court started decades ago when judges entered
|
|
carrying Bibles. Since judges no longer carry Bibles,
|
|
Braunstein says there is no reason to stand -- and his
|
|
Bible tells him to honor no other God. For this religious
|
|
practice, Newmeyer and Braunstein were jailed and are now
|
|
suing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
FREE SPEECH: We find that technology has given the
|
|
government an excuse to interfere with free speech.
|
|
Claiming that radio frequencies are a limited resource, the
|
|
government tells broadcasters what to say (such as news and
|
|
public and local service programming) and what not to say
|
|
(obscenity, as defined by the Federal Communications
|
|
Commission [FCC]). The FCC is investigating Boston PBS
|
|
station WGBH-TV for broadcasting photographs from the
|
|
Mapplethorpe exhibit.
|
|
|
|
FREE SPEECH: There are also laws to limit political
|
|
statements and contributions to political activities. In
|
|
1985, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce wanted to take out
|
|
an advertisement supporting a candidate in the state house
|
|
of representatives. But a 1976 Michigan law prohibits a
|
|
corporation from using its general treasury funds to make
|
|
independent expenditures in a political campaign. In
|
|
March, the Supreme Court upheld that law. According to
|
|
dissenting Justice Kennedy, it is now a felony in Michigan
|
|
for the Sierra Club, the American Civil Liberties Union, or
|
|
the Chamber of Commerce to advise the public how a
|
|
candidate voted on issues of urgent concern to their
|
|
members.
|
|
|
|
FREE PRESS: As in speech, technology has provided another
|
|
excuse for government intrusion in the press. If you
|
|
distribute a magazine electronically and do not print
|
|
copies, the government doesn't consider you a press and
|
|
does not give you the same protections courts have extended
|
|
to printed news. The equipment used to publish Phrack, a
|
|
worldwide electronic magazine about phones and hacking, was
|
|
confiscated after publishing a document copied from a Bell
|
|
South computer entitled "A Bell South Standard Practice
|
|
(BSP) 660-225-104SV Control Office Administration of
|
|
Enhanced 911 Services for Special Services and Major
|
|
Account Centers, March, 1988." All of the information in
|
|
this document was publicly available from Bell South in
|
|
other documents. The government has not alleged that the
|
|
publisher of Phrack, Craig Neidorf, was involved with or
|
|
participated in the copying of the document. Also, the
|
|
person who copied this document from telephone company
|
|
computers placed a copy on a bulletin board run by Rich
|
|
Andrews. Andrews forwarded a copy to AT&T officials and
|
|
cooperated with authorities fully. In return, the Secret
|
|
Service (SS) confiscated Andrews' computer along with all
|
|
the mail and data that were on it. Andrews was not charged
|
|
with any crime.
|
|
|
|
FREE PRESS: In another incident that would be comical if
|
|
it were not true, on March 1 the SS ransacked the offices
|
|
of Steve Jackson Games (SJG); irreparably damaged property;
|
|
and confiscated three computers, two laser printers,
|
|
several hard disks, and many boxes of paper and floppy
|
|
disks. The target of the SS operation was to seize all
|
|
copies of a game of fiction called GURPS Cyberpunk. The
|
|
Cyberpunk game contains fictitious break-ins in a
|
|
futuristic world, with no technical information of actual
|
|
use with real computers, nor is it played on computers.
|
|
The SS never filed any charges against SJG but still
|
|
refused to return confiscated property.
|
|
|
|
PEACEABLE ASSEMBLY: The right to assemble peaceably is no
|
|
longer free -- you have to get a permit. Even that is not
|
|
enough; some officials have to be sued before they realize
|
|
their reasons for denying a permit are not Constitutional.
|
|
|
|
PEACEABLE ASSEMBLY: In Alexandria, Virginia, there is a
|
|
law that prohibits people from loitering for more than
|
|
seven minutes and exchanging small objects. Punishment is
|
|
two years in jail. Consider the scene in jail: "What'd
|
|
you do?" "I was waiting at a bus stop and gave a guy a
|
|
cigarette." This is not an impossible occurrence: In
|
|
Pittsburgh, Eugene Tyler, 15, has been ordered away from
|
|
bus stops by police officers. Sherman Jones, also 15, was
|
|
accosted with a police officer's hands around his neck
|
|
after putting the last bit of pizza crust into his mouth.
|
|
The police suspected him of hiding drugs.
|
|
|
|
PETITION FOR REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES: Rounding out the
|
|
attacks on the first amendment, there is a sword hanging
|
|
over the right to petition for redress of grievances.
|
|
House Resolution 4079, the National Drug and Crime
|
|
Emergency Act, tries to "modify" the right to habeas
|
|
corpus. It sets time limits on the right of people in
|
|
custody to petition for redress and also limits the courts
|
|
in which such an appeal may be heard.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amendment II
|
|
|
|
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the
|
|
security of a free State, the right of the people
|
|
to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
|
|
|
|
RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS: This amendment is so commonly
|
|
challenged that the movement has its own name: gun
|
|
control. Legislation banning various types of weapons is
|
|
supported with the claim that the weapons are not for
|
|
"legitimate" sporting purposes. This is a perversion of
|
|
the right to bear arms for two reasons. First, the basis
|
|
of freedom is not that permission to do legitimate things
|
|
is granted to the people, but rather that the government is
|
|
empowered to do a limited number of legitimate things --
|
|
everything else people are free to do; they do not need to
|
|
justify their choices. Second, should the need for defense
|
|
arise, it will not be hordes of deer that the security of a
|
|
free state needs to be defended from. Defense would be
|
|
needed against humans, whether external invaders or
|
|
internal oppressors. It is an unfortunate fact of life
|
|
that the guns that would be needed to defend the security
|
|
of a state are guns to attack people, not guns for sporting
|
|
purposes.
|
|
|
|
Firearms regulations also empower local officials, such as
|
|
police chiefs, to grant or deny permits. This results in
|
|
towns where only friends of people in the right places are
|
|
granted permits, or towns where women are generally denied
|
|
the right to carry a weapon for self-defense.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amendment III
|
|
|
|
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered
|
|
in any house, without the consent of the Owner,
|
|
nor in time of war, but in a manner to be
|
|
prescribed by law.
|
|
|
|
QUARTERING SOLDIERS: This amendment is fairly clean so
|
|
far, but it is not entirely safe. Recently, 200 troops in
|
|
camouflage dress with M-16s and helicopters swept through
|
|
Kings Ridge National Forest in Humboldt County, California.
|
|
In the process of searching for marijuana plants for four
|
|
days, soldiers assaulted people on private land with M-16s
|
|
and barred them from their own property. This might not be
|
|
a direct hit on the third amendment, but the disregard for
|
|
private property is uncomfortably close.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amendment IV
|
|
|
|
The right of the people to be secure in their
|
|
persons, houses, papers and effects, against
|
|
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
|
|
violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon
|
|
probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation,
|
|
and particularly describing the place to be
|
|
searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
|
|
|
|
RIGHT TO BE SECURE IN PERSONS, HOUSES, PAPERS AND EFFECTS
|
|
AGAINST UNREASONABLE SEARCHES AND SEIZURES: The RICO law
|
|
is making a mockery of the right to be secure from seizure.
|
|
Entire stores of books or videotapes have been confiscated
|
|
based upon the presence of some sexually explicit items.
|
|
Bars, restaurants, or houses are taken from the owners
|
|
because employees or tenants sold drugs. In Volusia
|
|
County, Florida, Sheriff Robert Vogel and his officers stop
|
|
automobiles for contrived violations. If large amounts of
|
|
cash are found, the police confiscate it on the PRESUMPTION
|
|
that it is drug money -- even if there is no other evidence
|
|
and no charges are filed against the car's occupants. The
|
|
victims can get their money back only if they prove the
|
|
money was obtained legally. One couple got their money
|
|
back by proving it was an insurance settlement. Two other
|
|
men who tried to get their two thousand dollars back were
|
|
denied by the Florida courts.
|
|
|
|
RIGHT TO BE SECURE IN PERSONS, HOUSES, PAPERS AND EFFECTS
|
|
AGAINST UNREASONABLE SEARCHES AND SEIZURES: A new law goes
|
|
into effect in Oklahoma on January 1, 1991. All property,
|
|
real and personal, is taxable, and citizens are required to
|
|
list all their personal property for tax assessors,
|
|
including household furniture, gold and silver plate,
|
|
musical instruments, watches, jewelry, and personal,
|
|
private, or professional libraries. If a citizen refuses
|
|
to list their property or is suspected of not listing
|
|
something, the law directs the assessor to visit and enter
|
|
the premises, getting a search warrant if necessary. Being
|
|
required to tell the state everything you own is not being
|
|
secure in one's home and effects.
|
|
|
|
NO WARRANTS SHALL ISSUE, BUT UPON PROBABLE CAUSE, SUPPORTED
|
|
BY OATH OR AFFIRMATION: As a supporting oath or
|
|
affirmation, reports of anonymous informants are accepted.
|
|
This practice has been condoned by the Supreme Court.
|
|
|
|
PARTICULARLY DESCRIBING THE PLACE TO BE SEARCHED AND
|
|
PERSONS OR THINGS TO BE SEIZED: Today's warrants do not
|
|
particularly describe the things to be seized -- they list
|
|
things that might be present. For example, if police are
|
|
making a drug raid, they will list weapons as things to be
|
|
searched for and seized. This is done not because the
|
|
police know of any weapons and can particularly describe
|
|
them, but because they allege people with drugs often have
|
|
weapons.
|
|
|
|
Both of the above apply to the warrant the Hudson, New
|
|
Hampshire, police used when they broke down Bruce Lavoie's
|
|
door at 5 a.m. with guns drawn and shot and killed him.
|
|
The warrant claimed information from an anonymous
|
|
informant, and it said, among other things, that guns were
|
|
to be seized. The mention of guns in the warrant was used
|
|
as reason to enter with guns drawn. Bruce Lavoie had no
|
|
guns. Bruce Lavoie was not secure from unreasonable search
|
|
and seizure -- nor is anybody else.
|
|
|
|
Other infringements on the fourth amendment include
|
|
roadblocks and the Boston Police detention of people based
|
|
on colors they are wearing (supposedly indicating gang
|
|
membership). And in Pittsburgh again, Eugene Tyler was
|
|
once searched because he was wearing sweat pants and a
|
|
plaid shirt -- police told him they heard many drug dealers
|
|
at that time were wearing sweat pants and plaid shirts.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amendment V
|
|
|
|
No person shall be held to answer for a capital,
|
|
or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a
|
|
presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except
|
|
in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or
|
|
in the Militia, when in actual service in time of
|
|
War or public danger; nor shall any person be
|
|
subject to the same offence to be twice put in
|
|
jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled
|
|
in any criminal case to be a witness against
|
|
himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or
|
|
property, without due process of law; nor shall
|
|
private property be taken for public use without
|
|
just compensation.
|
|
|
|
INDICTMENT OF A GRAND JURY: Kevin Bjornson has been
|
|
proprietor of Hydro-Tech for nearly a decade and is a
|
|
leading authority on hydroponic technology and cultivation.
|
|
On October 26, 1989, both locations of Hydro-Tech were
|
|
raided by the Drug Enforcement Administration. National
|
|
Drug Control Policy Director William Bennett has declared
|
|
that some indoor lighting and hydroponic equipment is
|
|
purchased by marijuana growers, so retailers and
|
|
wholesalers of such equipment are drug profiteers and
|
|
co-conspirators. Bjornson was not charged with any crime,
|
|
nor subpoenaed, issued a warrant, or arrested. No illegal
|
|
substances were found on his premises. Federal officials
|
|
were unable to convince grand juries to indict Bjornson.
|
|
By February, they had called scores of witnesses and
|
|
recalled many two or three times, but none of the grand
|
|
juries they convened decided there was reason to criminally
|
|
prosecute Bjornson. In spite of that, as of March, his
|
|
bank accounts were still frozen and none of the inventories
|
|
or records had been returned. Grand juries refused to
|
|
indict Bjornson, but the government is still penalizing
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
TWICE PUT IN JEOPARDY OF LIFE OR LIMB: Members of the
|
|
McMartin family in California have been tried two or three
|
|
times for child abuse. Anthony Barnaby was tried for
|
|
murder (without evidence linking him to the crime) three
|
|
times before New Hampshire let him go.
|
|
|
|
COMPELLED TO BE A WITNESS AGAINST HIMSELF: Oliver North
|
|
was forced to testify against himself. Congress granted
|
|
him immunity from having anything he said to them being
|
|
used as evidence against him, and then they required him to
|
|
talk. After he did so, what he said was used to find other
|
|
evidence which was used against him. The courts also play
|
|
games where you can be required to testify against yourself
|
|
if you testify at all.
|
|
|
|
COMPELLED TO BE A WITNESS AGAINST HIMSELF: In the New York
|
|
Central Park assault case, three people were found guilty
|
|
of assault. But there was no physical evidence linking
|
|
them to the crime; semen did not match any of the
|
|
defendants. The only evidence the state had was
|
|
confessions. To obtain these confessions, the police
|
|
questioned a 15-year old without a parent present -- which
|
|
is illegal under New York state law. Police also refused
|
|
to let the subject's Big Brother, an attorney for the
|
|
Federal government, see him during questioning. Police
|
|
screamed "You better tell us what we want to hear and
|
|
cooperate or you are going to jail," at 14-year-old Antron
|
|
McCray, according to Bobby McCray, his father. Antron
|
|
McCray "confessed" after his father told him to, so that
|
|
police would release him. These people were coerced into
|
|
bearing witness against themselves, and those confessions
|
|
were used to convict them.
|
|
|
|
COMPELLED TO BE A WITNESS AGAINST HIMSELF: Your answers to
|
|
Census questions are required by law, with a $100 penalty
|
|
for each question not answered. But people have been
|
|
evicted for giving honest Census answers. According to the
|
|
General Accounting Office, one of the most frequent ways
|
|
city governments use census information is to detect
|
|
illegal two-family dwellings. This has happened in
|
|
Montgomery County, Maryland; Pullman, Washington; and Long
|
|
Island, New York. The August 8, 1989, Wall Street Journal
|
|
reports this and other ways Census answers have been used
|
|
against the answerers.
|
|
|
|
COMPELLED TO BE A WITNESS AGAINST HIMSELF: Drug tests are
|
|
being required from more and more people, even when there
|
|
is no probable cause, no accident, and no suspicion of drug
|
|
use. Requiring people to take drug tests compels them to
|
|
provide evidence against themselves.
|
|
|
|
DEPRIVED OF LIFE, LIBERTY, OR PROPERTY WITHOUT DUE PROCESS
|
|
OF LAW: This clause is violated on each of the items life,
|
|
liberty, and property. Incidents including such violations
|
|
are described elsewhere in this article. Here are two
|
|
more: On March 26, 1987, in Jeffersontown, Kentucky,
|
|
Jeffrey Miles was killed by police officer John Rucker, who
|
|
was looking for a suspected drug dealer. Rucker had been
|
|
sent to the wrong house; Miles was not wanted by police.
|
|
He received no due process. In Detroit, $4,834 was seized
|
|
from a grocery store after dogs detected traces of cocaine
|
|
on three one-dollar bills in a cash register.
|
|
|
|
PRIVATE PROPERTY TAKEN FOR PUBLIC USE WITHOUT JUST
|
|
COMPENSATION: RICO is shredding this aspect of the Bill of
|
|
Rights. The money confiscated by Sheriff Vogel goes
|
|
directly into Vogel's budget; it is not regulated by the
|
|
legislature. Federal and local governments seize and
|
|
auction boats, buildings, and other property. Under RICO,
|
|
the government is seizing property without due process.
|
|
The victims are required to prove not only that they are
|
|
not guilty of a crime, but that they are entitled to their
|
|
property. Otherwise, the government auctions off the
|
|
property and keeps the proceeds.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amendment VI
|
|
|
|
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall
|
|
enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by
|
|
an impartial jury of the State and district
|
|
wherein the crime shall have been committed,
|
|
which district shall have been previously
|
|
ascertained by law, and to be informed of the
|
|
nature and cause of the accusation; to be
|
|
confronted with the witnesses against him; to
|
|
have compulsory process for obtaining Witnesses
|
|
in his favor, and to have the assistance of
|
|
counsel for his defence.
|
|
|
|
THE RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL: Surprisingly, the
|
|
right to a public trial is under attack. When Marion Barry
|
|
was being tried, the prosecution attempted to bar Louis
|
|
Farrakhan and George Stallings from the gallery. This
|
|
request was based on an allegation that they would send
|
|
silent and "impermissible messages" to the jurors. The
|
|
judge initially granted this request. One might argue that
|
|
the whole point of a public trial is to send a message to
|
|
all the participants: The message is that the public is
|
|
watching; the trial had better be fair.
|
|
|
|
BY AN IMPARTIAL JURY: The government does not even honor
|
|
the right to trial by an impartial jury. US District Judge
|
|
Edward Rafeedie is investigating improper influence on
|
|
jurors by US marshals in the Enrique Camarena case. US
|
|
marshals apparently illegally communicated with jurors
|
|
during deliberations.
|
|
|
|
OF THE STATE AND DISTRICT WHEREIN THE CRIME SHALL HAVE BEEN
|
|
COMMITTED: This is incredible, but Manuel Noriega is being
|
|
tried so far away from the place where he is alleged to
|
|
have committed crimes that the United States had to invade
|
|
another country and overturn a government to get him. Nor
|
|
is this a unique occurrence; in a matter separate from the
|
|
Camarena case, Judge Rafeedie was asked to dismiss charges
|
|
against Mexican gynecologist Dr. Humberto Alvarez Machain
|
|
on the grounds that the doctor was illegally abducted from
|
|
his Guadalajara office in April and turned over to US
|
|
authorities.
|
|
|
|
TO BE INFORMED OF THE NATURE AND CAUSE OF THE ACCUSATION:
|
|
Steve Jackson Games, nearly put out of business by the raid
|
|
described previously, has been stonewalled by the SS. "For
|
|
the past month or so these guys have been insisting the
|
|
book wasn't the target of the raid, but they don't say what
|
|
the target was, or why they were critical of the book, or
|
|
why they won't give it back," Steve Jackson says. "They
|
|
have repeatedly denied we're targets but don't explain why
|
|
we've been made victims." Attorneys for SJG tried to find
|
|
out the basis for the search warrant that led to the raid
|
|
on SJG. But the application for that warrant was sealed by
|
|
order of the court and remained sealed at last report, in
|
|
July. Not only has the SS taken property and nearly
|
|
destroyed a publisher, it will not even explain the nature
|
|
and cause of the accusations that led to the raid.
|
|
|
|
TO BE CONFRONTED WITH THE WITNESSES AGAINST HIM: The courts
|
|
are beginning to play fast and loose with the right to
|
|
confront witnesses. Watch out for anonymous witnesses and
|
|
videotaped testimony.
|
|
|
|
TO HAVE COMPULSORY PROCESS FOR OBTAINING WITNESSES: Ronald
|
|
Reagan resisted submitting to subpoena and answering
|
|
questions about Irangate, claiming matters of national
|
|
security and executive privilege. A judge had to dismiss
|
|
some charges against Irangate participants because the
|
|
government refused to provide information subpoenaed by the
|
|
defendants. And one wonders if the government would go
|
|
to the same lengths to obtain witnesses for Manuel Noriega
|
|
as it did to capture him.
|
|
|
|
TO HAVE THE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL: The right to assistance
|
|
of counsel took a hit recently. Connecticut Judge Joseph
|
|
Sylvester is refusing to assign public defenders to people
|
|
ACCUSED of drug-related crimes, including drunk driving.
|
|
|
|
TO HAVE THE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL: RICO is also affecting
|
|
the right to have the assistance of counsel. The
|
|
government confiscates the money of an accused person,
|
|
which leaves them unable to hire attorneys. The IRS has
|
|
served summonses nationwide to defense attorneys, demanding
|
|
the names of clients who paid cash for fees exceeding
|
|
$10,000.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amendment VII
|
|
|
|
In Suits at common law, where the value in
|
|
controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the
|
|
right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no
|
|
fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise
|
|
reexamined in any Court of the United States,
|
|
than according to the rules of common law.
|
|
|
|
RIGHT OF TRIAL BY JURY IN SUITS AT COMMON LAW: This is a
|
|
simple right; so far the government has not felt threatened
|
|
by it and has not made attacks on it that I am aware of.
|
|
This is our only remaining safe haven in the Bill of Rights.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amendment VIII
|
|
|
|
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor
|
|
excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual
|
|
punishments inflicted.
|
|
|
|
EXCESSIVE BAIL AND FINES: Tallahatchie County in
|
|
Mississippi charges ten dollars a day to each person who
|
|
spends time in the jail, regardless of the length of stay
|
|
or the outcome of their trial. This means innocent people
|
|
are forced to pay. Marvin Willis was stuck in jail for 90
|
|
days trying to raise $2,500 bail on an assault charge. But
|
|
after he made that bail, he was kept imprisoned because he
|
|
could not pay the $900 rent Tallahatchie demanded. Nine
|
|
former inmates are suing the county for this practice.
|
|
|
|
CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENTS: House Resolution 4079
|
|
sticks its nose in here too: "... a Federal court shall
|
|
not hold prison or jail crowding unconstitutional under the
|
|
eighth amendment except to the extent that an individual
|
|
plaintiff inmate proves that the crowding causes the
|
|
infliction of cruel and unusual punishment of that
|
|
inmate."
|
|
|
|
CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENTS: A life sentence for selling
|
|
a quarter of a gram of cocaine for $20 -- that is what
|
|
Ricky Isom was sentenced to in February in Cobb County,
|
|
Georgia. It was Isom's second conviction in two years, and
|
|
state law imposes a mandatory sentence. Even the judge
|
|
pronouncing the sentence thinks it is cruel; Judge Tom
|
|
Cauthorn expressed grave reservations before sentencing
|
|
Isom and Douglas Rucks (convicted of selling 3.5 grams of
|
|
cocaine in a separate but similar case). Judge Cauthorn
|
|
called the sentences "Draconian."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amendment IX
|
|
|
|
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain
|
|
rights, shall not be construed to deny or
|
|
disparage others retained by the people.
|
|
|
|
OTHER RIGHTS RETAINED BY THE PEOPLE: This amendment is so
|
|
weak today that I will ask not what infringements there are
|
|
on it but rather what exercise of it exists at all? What
|
|
law can you appeal to a court to find you not guilty of
|
|
violating because the law denies a right retained by you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amendment X
|
|
|
|
The powers not delegated to the United States by
|
|
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
|
|
States, are reserved to the States respectively,
|
|
or to the people.
|
|
|
|
POWERS RESERVED TO THE STATES OR THE PEOPLE: This
|
|
amendment is also weak, although it is not so nonexistent
|
|
as the ninth amendment. But few states set their own speed
|
|
limits or drinking age limits. Today, we mostly think of
|
|
this country as the -- singular -- United States, rather
|
|
than a collection of states. This concentration of power
|
|
detaches laws from the desires of people -- and even of
|
|
states. House Resolution 4079 crops up again here -- it
|
|
uses financial incentives to get states to set specific
|
|
penalties for certain crimes. Making their own laws
|
|
certainly must be considered a right of the states, and
|
|
this right is being infringed upon.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Out of ten amendments, nine are under attack, most of them
|
|
under multiple attacks of different natures, and some of
|
|
them under a barrage. If this much of the Bill of Rights
|
|
is threatened, how can you be sure your rights are safe? A
|
|
right has to be there when you need it. Like insurance,
|
|
you cannot afford to wait until you need it and then set
|
|
about procuring it or ensuring it is available. Assurance
|
|
must be made in advance.
|
|
|
|
The bottom line here is that your rights are not safe. You
|
|
do not know when one of your rights will be violated. A
|
|
number of rights protect accused persons, and you may think
|
|
it is not important to protect the rights of criminals.
|
|
But if a right is not there for people accused of crimes,
|
|
it will not be there when you need it. With the Bill of
|
|
Rights in the sad condition described above, nobody can be
|
|
confident they will be able to exercise the rights to which
|
|
they are justly entitled. To preserve our rights for
|
|
ourselves in the future, we must defend them for everybody
|
|
today.
|