constitution - Jezebel

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ACORN May Have Found a Constitutional Hail Mary Play
Constitution May Guarantee Right To Not Pull Up Your Pants
Nobody Puts Baby In A Corner... Or Nicolle Wallace Under A Bus
Sarah Palin Gives Another Interview, Tortures Accused Facts Like She's A Gitmo Guard
Dear McCainiacs: Racism Should Not Be An Accepted American Attribute

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Zombie Ms. Skittles
09/21/09

In reply to ACORN May Have Found a Constitutional Hail Mary Play
So wait, can we use this for health insurance? Does health care count as a civil right?
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Lymed
09/21/09

@Zombie Ms. Skittles: Only that Congress cannot pass legislation that specifically prohibits Zombie Ms. Skittles from receiving Medicare.
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Mafalda para Presidente
09/21/09

@Zombie Ms. Skittles: Not if Republicans have anything to say about it, though I think to a certain extent, it should be.
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MizJenkins
09/21/09

In reply to ACORN May Have Found a Constitutional Hail Mary Play
I'm no expert in bills of attainder, but after taking a look at the legislation I have a feeling that challenge would fail.

The purpose of the prohibition on bills of attainder is to keep Congress from using legislative means to deny individuals their civil rights without due process (i.e., Congress can't find you guilty of a crime).

This legislation is not "targeted" towards ACORN, it's actually a huge appropriations bill that provides funds for transportation and affordable housing funds in FY10. The act sets forth several limitations on the use of funds, including a provision saying that no funds can be distributed to ACORN or its subsidiaries. But it also restricts distribution of funds to other government agencies, organizations that seek to exercise eminent domain etc.

Granted, it does not provide a rationale for denying funding to ACORN but I don't know that ACORN has any specific right to the funding either? I'm pretty sure Congress has a right to direct appropriations to specific sources as it sees fit. Interested to hear other arguments...
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kithkin
09/21/09

In reply to ACORN May Have Found a Constitutional Hail Mary Play
Obama had to deal with bill of attainder issues when taxing executive pay. If "employees of financial institutions owing $5 billion or more to the government with household income of $250k" is specific enough to be considered part of a bill of attainder, then certainly ACORN is.
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PaintedTrollop
09/21/09

In reply to ACORN May Have Found a Constitutional Hail Mary Play
If every organization that made mistakes stopped getting government funds, we wouldn't have CONGRESS.
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morninggloria
09/21/09

In reply to ACORN May Have Found a Constitutional Hail Mary Play
Since when has the constitution had anything to do with how America is run?
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BrutallyHonestBabes (aka Mrs. Sarah.of.a.Lesser.Hobbit)
09/21/09

In reply to ACORN May Have Found a Constitutional Hail Mary Play
Not my constitution! It allows for guns, family values, and has a picture of Carrie Prejean saying "It's Adam and Eve, Not Adam and Steve" on it in cross-stitch. Latoya, why do you hate America?
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AthertonMerriweather
09/21/09

In reply to ACORN May Have Found a Constitutional Hail Mary Play
I'm still going to pursue my career interests in the performance arts.
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Jack_Burton
05/08/09

In reply to Constitution May Guarantee Right To Not Pull Up Your Pants
I'm so glad that we are making laws about this. It's vitally important to society that pants function as designed.

/sarc
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boxspelunker
05/08/09

In reply to Constitution May Guarantee Right To Not Pull Up Your Pants
I have a few things to say in response to this:

1. I don't know about Georgia specifically, but most of the people I see with saggy pants in the Midwest are POC. Is this subtly racist? Or just people being turds?

2. I don't care for this style. I end up staring and wondering how you manage to not just walk straight out of your pants. A dude at work wears his cinched with a belt under his butt. It's like... what is holding those pants up? If I did that, I sure as hell wouldn't be wearing any pants.

3. I want to say something about how the boy has a nice silhouette, but I am not sure if that is either pervy (I don't know how old he is) or if that's not allowed. I also like his boxers.
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awinoforever
05/08/09

@boxspelunker:
on (1) my parents have lived in tennessee for five years now and let me tell you, it's straight up racist.
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boxspelunker
05/10/09

@awinoforever: Ah, I see. I kinda thought so, but I didn't want to be racist myself in thinking that and making assumptions. :D Thanks for the clarification!
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Sister Toldja
05/08/09

In reply to Constitution May Guarantee Right To Not Pull Up Your Pants
As disgusting as I find this trend (from the hipsters, to the thugs, to the high school girls), Tennessee was obviously grasping at straws looking for a new reason to unjustifiably incarcerate young Black men.
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ellaesther
05/08/09

@Sister Toldja: I have always wondered if class wasn't an equally strong factor. I'm guessing (though I will admit that I haven't researched it) that many of the legislators who passed this law are, themselves, African American, and were once young men. Is there an element of: "That's not the way nice people behave?" going on in this law?
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Justine
05/08/09

@ellaesther: "I'm guessing (though I will admit that I haven't researched it) that many of the legislators who passed this law are, themselves, African American, and were once young men."

It's Tennessee. So, I doubt it. Jus' sayin'.
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ellaesther
05/08/09

@Justine is ON A BOAT!: Ok, I can't do this right now, but it really bothers the reporter in me that I'm making assumptions in the absence of actual research! So I'm going to try to find this out today, and I will post a comment here, and PM you, when I find out.
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LoSpaz
05/08/09

@ellaesther: The Tennessee state Senate of 33 people has two black members. I don't know about the state house, which has 99 members.
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ellaesther
05/08/09

@LoSpaz: Wow. Good lord! I stand part-way corrected. I'm on my way to find out what's up in the state house.
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ellaesther
05/08/09

@ellaesther: Well, I'm having a hard time coming up with current numbers, but here's a table from 2000 [books.google.com] which shows that at that time, there were a total of 16 African American members (out of 132) of the Tennessee General Assembly, and I feel safe in presuming that things haven't changed much.

I stand very firmly corrected, and I'm sorry for shooting off my mouth before doing this looking around that I've just done. I think I so thoroughly associate TN politics with Harold Ford, Jr that I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry for the blinders, and am going to try to take them off now!
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whynotshesaid
05/08/09

@Sister Toldja: Agreed. Some legislators tried to pass a similar law down here in Florida, and I'll be damned if my "coded racism" alert wasn't going off every time I heard someone speak in support of it.
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ellaesther
05/08/09

In reply to Constitution May Guarantee Right To Not Pull Up Your Pants
Be that as it may -- and I am ALL about not legislating this kind of undemocratic nonsense -- when my 18 year old babysitter comes over? I tell him to pull up his damn pants.

Just the other day, in fact, he said "You'd be surprised how often I hear that on any day! Or maybe you wouldn't."

In this, I fully embrace my inner crank.
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browngirlinthering
05/08/09

In reply to Constitution May Guarantee Right To Not Pull Up Your Pants
this whole saggy pants ban has been carried on with so much racist overtones it makes my head spin.
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J.D.Regent
05/08/09

@browngirlinthering: EXACTLY. It is another insane racist bill; Georgia had a similar one but I can't remember what happened to it in the end. This was just a way to racially profile youngish black men and deserves to die a thousand deaths.
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Lady Saira, Vere de Vere
05/08/09

In reply to Constitution May Guarantee Right To Not Pull Up Your Pants
This calls for some shamelessly paraphrased Voltaire.

"I disapprove of how you wear your pants, but I will defend to the death your right to wear them like that."
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inabook
05/08/09

@blazing sairas: Cute. i like :-)
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morninggloria
05/08/09

In reply to Constitution May Guarantee Right To Not Pull Up Your Pants
They should rename this "Cranky Old Man Law"
or the "Whippersnapper Elimination Ordinance"
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LadySoprano is a Fat-Fighting Superwoman
05/08/09

In reply to Constitution May Guarantee Right To Not Pull Up Your Pants
The PE teacher at my school (we teach 7th and 8th grade) told the kids that the saggy pants trend started in prison, as a means of inmates letting other inmates know that they were "available for a relationship."

How true the PE teacher's story is, I don't know, but I do know that suddenly, most of our kids had their pants pulled up, and belts buckled. : )
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CharlotteTrampling
05/08/09

@LadySoprano is a Fat-Fighting Superwoman: OMG Genius! I am going to use that on my kids who are college aged.
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inabook
05/08/09

@CharlotteTrampling: It makes me sad that homosexual connotations is seen as a motivating factor to not do something :-(
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battleaxonista...is a humorless bitch
05/08/09

@inabook: Unfortunate, but effective. 'No Homo' is big in the black male community (generally! your brother/cousin/father/bff may not fall into this category!). A lot of my relatives would rather be in jail than be considered *gasp* gay .
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