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Politics : View from the Center and Left

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To: Lane3 who wrote (129909)	2/2/2010 7:54:32 AM
From: Travis_Bickle	Read Replies (2) of 542218

If you look at the First Amendment on its face, I think it would apply to a statute that infringed on the free speech of talking monkeys, if monkeys could talk. It applies to a statute that abridges speech, and doesn't seem particularly concerned with WHOSE speech is being abridged. So if a chimp or gorilla is ever determined to be no-kidding capable of speech, it could potentially become an issue. I understand what you are saying about standing, but given what the First Amendment actually says, and given that the 2002 statute appears to fall within the four corners of the Amendment, it seems to me that the burden should be on those who would uphold the statute, rather than those that want to strike it down. When I was a law clerk I worked on cases involving judicial interpretation of statutes and the general rule was if a situation falls squarely within the terms of the statute there is no need to go outside the statute to examine things like legislative history. In the Citizens United case I think the ball is in the dissenters' court ... it is up to them to establish why the statute SHOULDN'T be struck down. In this case we clearly have 1. a law passed by Congress which 2. abridges 3. speech

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