Seems that Republicans are secretly trying to make bills of attainder OK

[ck4829]

A bill of attainder (also known as an act or writ of attainder) is an act of the legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a trial.

The United States Constitution forbids both the federal and state governments to enact bills of attainder, in Article 1, Sections 9 and 10, respectively.

Within the U.S. Constitution, the clauses forbidding attainder laws serve two purposes. First, they reinforced the separation of powers, by forbidding the legislature to perform judicial functions—since the outcome of any such acts of legislature would of necessity take the form of a bill of attainder. Second, they embody the concept of due process, which was later reinforced by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. The text of the Constitution, Article I, Section 9; Clause 3 is "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed". The constitution of every State also expressly forbids bills of attainder.

Up until 2002, only five acts of Congress had ever been overturned on bill of attainder grounds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_attainder

And then when Republicans came into power in the White House, the Senate, and the House...

Palm Sunday Compromise - Created a court power in the Congress that is supposed to only belong to the courts in the Terri Schiavo debacle.

Defunding of ACORN - ACORN is specifically mentioned by name in the bill, as well as ACORN is identified as an "indicted" organization.

Regardless of what you may think of ACORN, bills of attainder are not constitutional.

Obama needs to veto this bill and declare that any Representatives and Senators who try to override his veto are in violation of the Constitution.

[masuki bance]

1. Why don't you credit Nadler for this? nt

[ThomWV]

2. Why?

More information would help us understand your comment.

[masuki bance]

5. Nadler just brought this up, its even posted here at DU

September 17, 2009
Categories: Free Speech
Nadler: ACORN ban unconstitutional

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), chairman of subcommittee on the Constitution, makes the case that the bill, if it's ever signed into law, may not stand up to court challenges.

The ACORN bill, he claims, is essentially a "bill of attainder," a measure targeted to benefit or penalize an individual or group which is prohibited in the Constitution, Article 1, Sections 9 and 10.

In a floor speech tonight, Nadler said:

A little while ago, the House passed an amendment to the bill that we were considering that says no contract or federal funds may ever go to ACORN, a named organization, or to any individual or organization affiliated with ACORN. Unfortunately, this was done in the spirit of the moment and nobody had the opportunity to point out that this is a flat violation of the Constitution, constituting a Bill of Attainder. The Constitution says that Congress shall never pass a Bill of Attainder. Bills of Attainder, no matter what their form, apply either to a named individual or to easily ascertainable members of a group, to inflict punishment. That’s exactly what this amendment does.

“It may be that ACORN is guilty of various infractions, and, if so, it ought to be vetted, or maybe sanctioned, by the appropriate administrative agency or by the judiciary. Congress must not be in the business of punishing individual organizations or people without trial.

The White House has been critical of ACORN but mum about the recent Congressional actions.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0909/Nadler_ACORN_ban_unconstitutional.html?showall

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"Congressman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, denounced a Republican amendment adopted by the House of Representatives Thursday to deny all federal funds to the advocacy group the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) as blatantly unconstitutional and a threat to unpopular organizations everywhere.

Nadler said the Republican initiative, the Defund ACORN Act, introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA, singles out a specific organization by name for exclusion from participating in any federal program, in direct violation of the Constitution’s prohibition against Bills of Attainder. The amendment was attached to a student loan bill.

“Today’s Republican amendment is in blatant violation of the Constitution’s prohibition against Bills of Attainder,” said Nadler, the chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. “Congress must not be in the business of punishing individual organizations or people without trial, and that’s what this amendment does. Whatever one may think of an organization, the Constitution’s clear ban on Bills of Attainder is there for the protection of all of our liberties.”...."

http://pubrecord.org/politics/5259/nadler-acorn-amendment-flatly/comment-page-1/

[ck4829]

4. I looked up the bill

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h3571/text

[ck4829]

3. Delete

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