On Wednesday, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit handed down a horrible decision affirming a lower court’s decision that effectively allowed a city to evict people required to register, from their homes.

In Vasquez v. Foxx, 17-1061 (7th Cir. 2018) two men required to register as sex offenders were required to comply with a law that prohibited sex offenders from living within 500 feet of a school, playground, or child-care center. A few years after the men’s convictions, Illinois added child and group day-care homes to the 500-foot buffer zone. Plaintiffs, who were already living in their homes, were given 30 days to move out.

The men filed suit claiming that (a) the amendment imposed retroactive punishment in violation of the Ex Post Facto Clause, (b) that applying the amended statute to them constituted an unconstitutional taking, and (c) that the statute is enforced without a hearing for an individualized risk assessment and is not rationally related to a legitimate state interest, in violation of their due process rights.

The lower court dismissed their case and now the Seventh Circuit affirmed. A horrible case!

The full text of the decision is available at the link below:

17-1061-2018-07-11

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