Alright, the title is a bit misleading - no Federal anti-lynching laws were enacted. There were numerous attempts, and one, the
Dyer Bill, managed to pass in the House, only to be stonewalled in the Senate by the Southern states.
But I'm a bit interested to see what people here think. Were the laws proposed legal? This is something of an informal poll, so please begin a post with the number of your choice.
To: JerseyanExile
2 posted on
08/30/2012 7:50:39 AM PDT by
tx_eggman
(Liberalism is only possible in that moment when a man chooses Barabas over Christ.)
To: JerseyanExile; Admin Moderator
To: JerseyanExile
Yes. Individual rights trump State powers. One individual right is you can’t be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
4 posted on
08/30/2012 7:56:14 AM PDT by
mnehring
To: JerseyanExile
Are you worried about something?
5 posted on
08/30/2012 7:58:22 AM PDT by
VeniVidiVici
(Congrats to Ted Kennedy! He's been sober for two years now!!)
To: JerseyanExile
Well the issue wasn't lynching being illegal or not, lynching was murder and was already punishable by scores of state and federal law. The problem was getting anybody to investigate, then a getting prosecutor to prosecute, not to mention getting witnesses to testify and a jury who would convict. As for a federal anti-lynching law being constitutional or not, the Supreme Court has pretty much decided that most federal laws of that nature such as “hate crime” laws are constitutional so I would say yes (whether that is what the founders actually intended or not was another story.)
6 posted on
08/30/2012 8:16:45 AM PDT by
apillar
To: JerseyanExile
The equal - protection clause was originally specially meant to mandate federal intervention if States declined to protect classes of people from violence.
9 posted on
08/30/2012 8:58:02 AM PDT by
SauronOfMordor
(this space for rent)
To: JerseyanExile
When a person feels the hemp tightening around their neck rights and jurisdictions become a moot point.
11 posted on
08/30/2012 10:14:45 AM PDT by
count-your-change
(You don't have to be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
To: JerseyanExile
Iran's on the brink of developing a nuke...there's a real possibility that Osama Obama will be able to steal this election...and you're worried about anti-lynching laws?
Yikes!
12 posted on
08/30/2012 10:20:58 AM PDT by
Gay State Conservative
(Voter ID Equals "No Representation Without Respiration")
To: JerseyanExile
Alright, looks like support was strongly in favor of such laws, which was about what I expected. You see, I made an analogy to anti-lynching laws to a pro-abortion co-worker, when defending the legality of federal anti-abortion legislation. Same principle really, that of the individual being deprived of life without due process. He and I got into it a bit on the “state’s rights” argument that was raised historically, and eventually we had a wager on it. Looks like I won.
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