U.S. Supreme Court vs. States' Rights

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: August 14, 2005 5:10:06 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: U.S. Supreme Court vs. States' Rights




> So what efforts are being made to boycott the new economic development
> of  New London?

Dave,

Lost in most of the media reports on the Supreme Court eminent domain
decision is the fact that these celebrated abuses are mostly the
fault of state and local governments.  Essentially what the Supreme
Court said is that states *could continue* these abuses, since the
Court interpreted the Constitution as not forbidding them.  In fact,
the decision specifically points out that states are free to
prohibit such actions if they wished.  So the anger really needs to
be directed at state and local officials, not so much at the
Supremes in this case.

However, it *is* interesting to "compare and contrast" other states'
rights issues that the Supreme Court has considered, and the varying
cast of characters in the votes.  For example, while the court voted
in favor of states' rights in the eminent domain case
(key issue: *money*), it has voted against states' rights
in issues such as medical marijuana (key issue: *people*).

Of course, this is the same priority scale that we've come to expect
from the current Congress and President, so none of this should be a
big surprise.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () pfir org or lauren () vortex com or lauren () eepi org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
  - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, EEPI
  - Electronic Entertainment Policy Initiative - http://www.eepi.org
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com



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