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Bad Laws Make Good Cases
In the news this week are two stories linked only by the fact that both involve ill-advised pieces of legislation and suggest well-advised legal challenges.
In Kentucky, when the General Assembly passed a law creating the state's Office of Homeland Security, it apparently did not want to take any chances with any power -- whether foreign or higher -- that might influence the state's security. It inserted language in the law requiring the new office to acknowledge "the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth." The law required the office to include this statement in training materials and on a plaque in its operations center.
While God may have appreciated the recognition, others saw it as perhaps a violation of the Constitution. Ten Kentucky residents and a national atheists' organization filed a lawsuit to strike the language from the law. Last week, a circuit judge in Frankfort had the good sense to agree with them. In an 18-page order, Judge Thomas Wingate declared the law's reference to God to be unconstitutional.
In Missouri, meanwhile, public records advocates were caught off guard by a law that took effect this week. The law closes from public view most documents in divorce cases currently on file in Missouri courts. Documents in future divorce cases will be public, but court clerks will be required to shield information such as Social Security numbers that could be used for identity theft.
If ever there was an example of legislative overkill, this is it. Sealing all court records to protect bits of information is like calling the fire department to blow out a match. There are any number of less dramatic ways the legislature could have addressed this problem -- if it even really is a problem. The public has a right to know what is in those records. Let us hope someone has the good sense to challenge this law in court.
Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on September 1, 2009 at 03:01 PM | Permalink
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