PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times
By Thomas Neuberger, Times Guest Columnist
POSTED: 06/28/16
The Rutherford Institute in Charlottesville, a defender of civil liberties, has issued an independent 4,400 word report on the legality of HB1947. A summary follows.
The Bill Passes Federal Muster:
Applying legal terms similar to those in dispute, for almost 150 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled six times that retroactive civil laws violate no constitutional protections. “It is beyond dispute that … [a legislature] has the power to enact laws with retrospective effect.” St. Cyr, (2001).
Constitutions Are Living Documents Subject to Changing Interpretations Over Time:
Just because a court interpreted a Pennsylvania constitutional provision one way 108 years ago does not mean it will not be interpreted differently today. Court interpretations of static language and provisions change over time. This can happen for a multitude of reasons, ranging from a better scholarly understanding of the language, to changing societal values or norms, to a simple decision by a Supreme Court to go in a different interpretational direction for public policy reasons. The case law is full of examples of this.
In 1896 “separate but equal” was forced on blacks, but in 1954 Brown held separate can never be equal. In 1986 gay sex was criminal, Bowers, but 17 years later it was legal.
Lawrence. Free speech only applied to the federal government, until after a century the states had to protect it also.
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