Wednesday, February 02, 2011

ENEMAS, GUNS, and the LAW

ENEMAS, GUNS, and the LAW
Obamacare supporters will say the judicial score is tied: Two federal courts have upheld Obamacare, and two have declared part of it unconstitutional. But two against two among federal district courts is not a tie. [Obamacare Is in Critical Condition With the Courts]
Nice Guns
Nice opinion article from LSU law professor John S. Baker Jr on AOL News, about the constitutionality of Obamacare.. I've already heard the argument that " judicial score is tied," and prolly you have too.
District judges, whether state or federal, are risk-averse when interpreting the law. District judges preside over trial courts. They normally apply established law to the facts before them. Deciding questions of law is primarily the work of appellate courts.

Federal district judges, in particular, do not like being reversed by appellate judges. Frequent reversals are not good for one's ego or the reputation. Federal district judges naturally know, without consulting statistics, that very few federal statutes are declared unconstitutional.

So given the probabilities, it's much safer and easier for a lone federal district judge to declare federal statutes constitutional. Just leave it to the panel of three appellate judges to consider more carefully whether a statute is unconstitutional. That's what appellate judges are paid to do.

Because of this, the two decisions against Obamacare are much more significant than the two that upheld the legislation.
Interestingly "Five South Dakota lawmakers have introduced legislation that would require any adult 21 or older to buy a firearm “sufficient to provide for their ordinary self-defense.”  The major difference as I see it, is this would be a state mandate, enacted under powers vested by the United States Constiturion.  Additionally, similar laws, like Kennesaw, Georgia's mandatory gun ownership law (1982) have obviously survived challenges. 

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Legally, one is state; one is Teh Fed. Which gives ya a pantload of further issues.

That said, the idea has possibilities... Let's make everyone buy and read five History books [with a comprehension test to follow] from a pre-defined list. Same deal with economics books -- not dense technical texts but something like Sowell's Basic Economics. Some basic Science would be good, too. Hm... what else....

e~C

Rodger the Real King of France said...

I hear ya. In my perfect world the state would stay the hell out of my life just about entirely. One of few exceptions would be something like a 5% flat tax (the only tax allowed) from every citizen to build a military defense second to none, and a period of mandatory service by everyone. That's it. Okay, night baseball banned.

Anonymous said...

What about women in pants?

Casca

Anonymous said...

Okay, night baseball banned. But that's it for sure!

[see -- just like tater chips...]

e~C

Kim said...

"What about women in pants?"

Well, that kinda depends on the pants and who's wearing them. (Right-click on link)

My only other suggestion would be to bring back summary execution for all legislators who voted for a law which is later deemed by the USSC to be un-Constitutional.

Steve in Greensboro said...

And the designated hitter.

JMcD said...

I look at that picture and realize that at 72 I never did get over Betty Page.
I always thought she was the most desirable of all women.
Still do.

Anonymous said...

Kim, it takes too much time to get them off. The kilt is an unrivaled garment for fornication and diarrhea.

Casca

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