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To: Always Right
This is why we need a US Constitutional Amendment. A sad state of affairs.

Language is a flexible thing. A Constitutional amendment only stalls the process while a new label is developed, and maybe until about one generation passes.

Campaign Finance Reform law prohibits some organizations from buying air time for politically-motivated advocay ads, yet SCOTUS ruled no infringement on the 1st Amendment.

Or slightly more arcane and less weighty, the VI Amendment recites "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 ..." but see Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 US 145 (1968) ,which holds there is no right to a jury trial if the maximum penalty is less than 6 months imprisonment.

It is doubtless true that there is a category of petty crimes or offenses which is not subject to the Sixth Amendment jury trial provision and should not be subject to the Fourteenth Amendment jury trial requirement here applied to the States. Crimes carrying possible penalties up to six months do not require a jury trial if they otherwise qualify as petty offenses.

43 posted on 05/12/2005 4:57:14 PM PDT by Cboldt
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To: Cboldt
Don't forget international jurisprudence, increasingly adopted by U.S Courts, that's tilted to the Left. Expect rulings from liberal judges sanctioning every wish list item of the liberal agenda by means of interpreting constitutional law as a "living tree" that grows new branches of law to fit a given era's new needs.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
44 posted on 05/12/2005 5:02:01 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Cboldt
Campaign Finance Reform law prohibits some organizations from buying air time for politically-motivated advocay ads, yet SCOTUS ruled no infringement on the 1st Amendment.

I am still shocked over that ruling. I figured old ACLUer Ginsburg was a sure thing to come over to the right side. Most surpised I've ever been over a ruling.

48 posted on 05/12/2005 5:19:30 PM PDT by Always Right
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