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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   32426 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 31, 2022

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Arguing over whether something is constitutional is silly to start with. The only people deciding that are the Supreme Court, and if they could decide that growing your own crops for your own consumption is interstate commerce, then they can decide literally anything is or isn't constitutional.

The other problem with your argument is that it would mean U.S. citizens have basically no constitutional rights, as long as their violation is laundered through private companies.

Surely the OP's claim that the actions are "blatantly unconstitutional" was a claim that they are unconstitutional under current precedent, which is not a silly claim at all.

As for whether my argument means that US citizens have no rights at all "as long as their violation is laundered through private companies," I suggest you reread the quotation I included, which says the exact opposite. And see the voluminous caselaw on state action in general.

To clarify, I ultimately don't believe constitutions are paper documents or even lawyerly interpretations thereof but the living compact that creates a sovereign nation and makes it legitimate.

That's supposed to be the meaning of the word. The document is called after the compact, not the other way around. But I understand that isn't the most common usage.

Surely the OP's claim that the actions are "blatantly unconstitutional" was a claim that they are unconstitutional under current precedent, which is not a silly claim at all.

That still sounds pretty silly. A judge needs to decide whether what you bring up as precedent is relevant to a particular case.

I suggest you reread the quotation I included, which says the exact opposite.

Sorry, I guess I misunderstood. The disagreement is over whether it's blatantly unconstitutional or might be constitutional, not whether it's constitutional or not?

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