reply to post by Highground
OK, let me make this VERY simple: EVERY time a higher court decides against a law, that court decision makes the law INVALID>
So you do not go off on a long rant again saying nothing, let me make this very plain and clear: Here is an example:
I use the sodomy statute because it ILLUSTRATES clearly the point I am making; That laws can remain in print, on ' the books' and yet be invalid,
thus proving my point.
The law that Texas used to prosecute the men is STILL in the statute books of Texas. if you get any Texas law books, you will find the statute that
makes consenual sex between members of the same sex illegal. Does that mean that some cop can arrest someone for this law? NO!!
The supreme court decided that the Texas law was invalid and unConstitutional. therefore, even though the statutes have not been reprinted since
then, you cannot be prosecuted, or arrested, for that' offense'.
Thism proves my point totally, If you are intellectually honest enough to admit it. Just because a styate does not reprint all law books every time
an overiding decision is made doews NOT mean that the law is in effect!!
Is THAT plain enough English for you? here is another example for you, just in case you are stubbornly clining to the illusion that you are correct
in this matter:
In Virginia there is a law that says ( and you can still find it in law books):
"It shall hereafter be unlawful for any white person in this State to marry any save a white person, or a person with no other admixture of blood
than white and American Indian. For the purpose of this chapter, the term 'white person' shall apply only to such person as has no trace whatever of
any blood other than Caucasian; but persons who have one-sixteenth or less of the blood of the American Indian and have no other non-Caucasic blood
shall be deemed to be white persons. All laws heretofore passed and now in effect regarding the intermarriage of white and colored persons shall apply
to marriages prohibited by this chapter."
Of COURSE this law is invalid, even though the law books reflected this for decades after its removal from jurisprudence. Had you gone into a
statute book anytime from the 1950's until the law books were reprinted, you would find this law. Would you be able to enforce it? NO!! Is the law
valid just because it rests in a law book? NO!!
COURT decisions CHANGE the law, as in the case of ' loitering' ( your cexample would be' idle', as in the instant case), which still exists in
many state law books, but is NOT a crime anymore. The police cannot arrest us just because we are not doing something they consider worthwhile.
So, and please read this carefully....it does not MATTER at all that the states do not remove invalid laws from their books. All the lawyer has to
do is CITE the relevant case law and that does it. There need be NO SUCH THING as some refutation printed...there need be NO such thing as a proof
that the law is invalid...it does not work that way.
Superceding laws mean that the law may remain printed in a book, but it is not enforceable in court. Proof that the law forbidding being ' idle '
is no longer valid? Here:
Illinois ( Chicago) passed a law that forbade ' gang members' from ' loitering'. The law can STILL be found on the statuet books. BUT, is is
NOT valid, as shown here:
"The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the Illinois Supreme Court and ruled the ordinance unconstitutionally vague under the Due Process Clause
of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, the court ruled that the ordinance violated the requirement that a legislature
establish guidelines to govern law enforcement. "
So, where is the proof that the law is invalid? In the supreme court decision, thats where!! I have proven the point beyond any doubt. Admit it.