Bad Decision out of the 7th Circuit
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:
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Does this mean this can not be appealed any further? If so this is indeed truly horrendous and to an indication that we can not rely even on the courts. Are these judges voted in? If so could it be that is the overriding factor? Their fear of voter backlash like in the California case where the judge was removed via recall?
It can be appealed to the Supreme Court of the US. It only impacts the 7th Circuit.
It is a federal court – the judges are not elected, they are appointed.
The decision did point out that the plaintiffs made some mistakes in their filing. The big one was that they were only suing the City of Chicago. You can’t even raise an effective ex post facto challenge unless you sue the state in this case, because Chicago was following a state law. They could go back and file a new claim against Illinois and follow the process all the way through again. These judges seemed to be arguing that the only thing that qualifies as punitive is actual physical incarceration. That is the point that needs to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, it is apparent to me that this original appeal was done by someone who did a really sloppy job on the law, and the Supreme Court just wouldn’t bother with a case like that. I hope they didn’t pay a lawyer to screw it up for them, because they sure didn’t get their money’s worth.
Im just so tired of hearing bad news im thinking of unsubscribing not because of what they are doing but because of if i keep reading this it makes me more and more depressed and my children dont need it.my offense occurred in 91 and I was a senior in high school age 18 and she was 15.I was told when I finish probation that I wouldn’t have any restrictions I even transferred my probation to Georgia for me to go to school ans the college still accepted me then comes the registry Now im sucked into it.My kids weren’t born now I have missed 2 high school graduations also a air force graduation and I or my family never been on vacation or to the amusement parks nor have I been to their baseball games which they both are allstars.And they both are a students.They don’t deserve this I have only one count and never been in trouble for anything else ever.But this is killing me I dont know what to do!!
@Plain tired
Don’t give up the fight! I also feel the same pain and understand where your coming from. WE may lose some battles but we will not lose this damn WAR!
Stay strong my friend.
DS, way to speak up. These idiotic politicians hope they can outlast us. We must show that we have more staying power than they do. No one said it would be easy but remember a war victory is not determined by a single battle loss.
Hang in there buddy. I too was convicted in 91. We cannot give up the fight, its definitely a war. Its sad that we work hard first of all as Americans. We as registered citizens have comply day after day with laws that flip flop constantly. Its not fair that the courts are unjust and that people look at us side ways, I pray that god one day is going is going to make things right, first by abolishing Megans law registry, and second sending down bolts of lightning to the unjust and wicked people that that try to with us harm….Stay Strong Friend.
Yuck, too many negative cases lately! The 7th Circuit had no choice! They failed to first prove and establish punitive and went straight for ex post facto. Ex post facto is meaningless if the the Court has yet to decide punitive. Remember, 2010’s Ohio is our template, especially in Courts where these cases are new to the judges. May we learn from these unfortunate failures. We have to first pave the right path for these judges to make legal sense of it all and then they can make the obvious ruling in our favor.
After serving my country for 29 years, anyone who tries to kick me out of my home had best bring two body bags.
Here is a direct quote from a beautician in New Jersey, “The second amendment doesn’t apply here”. This was said to an Army Veteran applying for a gun permit. Further proof that the Constitution means nothing.
As horrible as Floriduh treats registered citizens, lately it seems that states like Illinois and Missouri are trying to one-up Floriduh in their cruelty. I wouldn’t want to live in those states either.