06-29-2005, 04:57 PM
And the "Souter hotel" thing -- which has been circulating around the internet -- is a REALLY BAD, REALLY STUPID idea.
(Well, perhaps it's prank, in which case it may not be a bad one. But as a real idea, it's incredibly bad).
Let's see:
1. That kind of seizure is not authorized by Kelo. Pretextual seizures or seizures intended to benefit one party are not allowed.
A public body is allowed to make decisions for public purpose, that may have some incidental private effects. But the Kennedy concurrence and the Kelo decision itself are very clear. Intent to take property away from one person and give it to another is not allowed, at all.
2. Did the morons who drafted this even read the Kelo decision? It wasn't authored by Justice Souter. The decision itself was authored Justice Stevens. Souter, along with Kennedy, Breyer, and Ginsburg, joined the decision. The focus on Souter is . . . bizarre. (Except insofar as he's a favorite target of the Limbaugh crowd).
3. Are we really stopping to this? The King of England threw judges and juries into prison for decisions that he didn't like. The Founders decided that that was a bad idea, and did everything that they could to establish an independent judiciary, one that could rule on cases according to how it viewed the correct interpretation of the law.
But apparently for some people it's more fun to play King-of-England and go after judges for rulings that one disagrees with. What a load of &*^&.
(Well, perhaps it's prank, in which case it may not be a bad one. But as a real idea, it's incredibly bad).
Let's see:
1. That kind of seizure is not authorized by Kelo. Pretextual seizures or seizures intended to benefit one party are not allowed.
A public body is allowed to make decisions for public purpose, that may have some incidental private effects. But the Kennedy concurrence and the Kelo decision itself are very clear. Intent to take property away from one person and give it to another is not allowed, at all.
2. Did the morons who drafted this even read the Kelo decision? It wasn't authored by Justice Souter. The decision itself was authored Justice Stevens. Souter, along with Kennedy, Breyer, and Ginsburg, joined the decision. The focus on Souter is . . . bizarre. (Except insofar as he's a favorite target of the Limbaugh crowd).
3. Are we really stopping to this? The King of England threw judges and juries into prison for decisions that he didn't like. The Founders decided that that was a bad idea, and did everything that they could to establish an independent judiciary, one that could rule on cases according to how it viewed the correct interpretation of the law.
But apparently for some people it's more fun to play King-of-England and go after judges for rulings that one disagrees with. What a load of &*^&.