Louisiana Attorney General seeks SCOTUS review of driver’s license branding.
The Louisiana Attorney General is asking the Supreme Court of the United States to stay the decision of its state supreme court which struck down the Louisiana Law requiring the branding of driver’s licenses of persons required to register as sex offenders with the label on the face of their licenses.
In 2017, a registrant was charged with altering his drivers license to conceal the words “sex offender” he argued that the requirement violates the First Amendment prohibition against compelled speech and won. The state appealed and lost.
Now the AG is moving the case over to the feds and asking the highest court in the country to stay the decision so that Louisiana can submit a Petition for Writ of Certiorari asking the Supreme Court to hear the issue. While the Supreme Court of the US grants very, very few such petitions. If they do elect to hear this case, it could have implications across the country in other states (including Florida) that brand registrant’s licenses. It might also go as far as having an impact on passport branding under International Megan’s Law.
You can read the filing here: Louisiana Emergency Stay to SCOTUS DL
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The United States of America is becoming a distopian society, it is becoming closer to what was represented in the book 1984.
I personally feel we’re already there. The process just hasn’t completed, yet.
jz:
We don’t need anyone pushing crazy conspiracy theories. This movement needs people who can create cogent and meaningful arguments to support our position.
There are about 1,000.000 people on these various sex offender registries. Many more people are on drunk driving registries, child abuse and neglect registries, animal abuse registries and a slew of other registries. When they pass these various laws they limit these registries to “law-enforcement” agencies only. Then they expand them to include schools, day care centers, etc. When they run out of reasons to expand access to these registries, the next logical step is to make them public.
Look at Indiana. About a decade ago they expanded the sex offender registry to include all violent offenders so now it’s called the Indiana violent and sex offender registry.
Indiana created a child abuse and neglect registry more than 10 years ago. They knew it could destroy lives, so they set it up for “law enforcement” purposes only. They continued to expand who had access to this registry until they ran out of excuses for expanding it. In 2017, Indiana made it’s child abuse and neglect registry public. Eventually, all of these registries will be made public because the public “has a right to know”.
Now there are millions of people on these various registries and it is only a matter of time until they collapse under their own weight. By donating to FAC or other legal efforts, our hope is to end them in our lifetimes. We are not pushing to end the registry in our efforts because the registry will eventually come to an end. We are just pushing the process at a faster pace so registrants receive relief in their own lifetime.
@Detroit,
I’m not pushing anything, just stating my opinion based on my experience with the registry. Edward Snowden exposed the FACT that our government is spying on US 24/7/365. The “Patriot” Act is still in effect. When one political party controls the Presidency, Senate, and House of Representatives, that IS a one-party system.
We are sent back to prison for technical/administrative violations where we are very likely to be murdered by other inmates with the FDOC compliance, i.e. exterminated. We are civilly confined indefinitely based on thought crime, i.e. permanent incarceration. In MY opinion, anyone who believes the registry will ever end is living in a fool’s paradise. I do contribute to FAC, every month, and have contributed to the ACLU.
Agreed, JZ.
JZ
Everyone should watch the movie called Minority Report with Tom Cruise if you haven’t already. The basis was people were arrested for things they “MIGHT” do in the future.
@CJ,
Yes, I have seen it. Maybe our government did too and enacted the Walsh Crime Bill based on it.
Ottis Toole confessed to killing Adam, yet we are all paying for his crime, in perpetuity.
Has IML been tested in the courts? This arguments put forward in this case has implications for dismantling the branding in that context.
This case, if it reaches SCOTUS, would be the parakeet in the coal mine for the dismantling of the John Walsh Crime Syndicate. If SCOTUS were to agree with Jeff Landry, our status as persona non grata would forever be confirmed. If SCOTUS were to agree with the Louisiana Supreme Court, the decision would be tailored so narrowly that it would only benefit the registrant or a select few.
I agree with Anonimous, Amerikkka is a police state. With the call for defunding police waning, it will only get worse as we slide toward a one-party totalitarian government.
If we are already forced into compelled speech, have no right of privacy, denied housing and employment, where do you think it will end? The answer should be obvious. Extermination or permanent incarceration.
The U. S. Supreme Court will of course deny Certiorari review. They have no other option, as their ruling would affect the entire nation granting by relief to third class citizens. It is always better to flood the lower courts in various states (so much for judicial economy) than to grant across the board relief to sex offenders.
David
I am going to make a comparison here that is not meant to be insensitive. If 100 people head towards the border of the U.S from Mexico, that is going to raise a red flag and many of them will be captured. But if they split up a mile apart they cannot all be caught.
My point is, even though more expensive, when we go for individual relief, we are not asking for the registry to be thrown out, we are asking for the registry to throw “US” out as an individual. We are seeking a divorce from its’ hold on us.
It is like we don’t raise any red flags as one person but when an entire group floods the courts, it overwhelms the system. Now am I saying we should stop these lawsuits in mass? Absolutely not. I am just saying it seems more wins seems to happen under the radar. The less you cost the government the more willing they are to be rid of you.
I just hope and pray that I am still alive to see some major victories. If not then I guess my death will be my only way off this Hell on Earth.
Bring it on DA. That doesn’t stand for District Attorney
Just look at all the lies about public safety.
“The decision below threatens irreparable public-safety harms: Louisiana now can neither protect its citizens from sex offenders by requiring them to carry a marked ID nor prosecute those sex offenders—like Hill—who fraudulently remove the sex-offender designation. Without this Court’s intervention, sex offenders can alter their IDs or forgo carrying them altogether. That makes Louisiana law enforcement and the public less able to identify sex offenders moving through the community, with potentially life-threatening consequences. Granting a stay, in contrast, maintains the status quo until this Court can consider Louisiana’s forthcoming petition. ”
Just search the document for the word safety, there are plenty more lies.
This language is just so transparently silly that I can’t imagine SCOTUS granting a stay. I am prepared to be disappointed, though. Whoever heard of someone removing “sex offender” from their license in order to commit a crime?
Jacob
It goes something like this, “Hey, let’s be friends. Look, I will show you my driver’s license to prove I am not a scary sex offender. Look no mark of the beast”.
I am waiting for all released inmates to get bar codes tattooed to their forearms to keep track of be scanned upon demand.
“I am waiting for all released inmates to get bar codes tattooed to their forearms to keep track of be scanned upon demand.”
They couldn’t do that, that’s considered “Branding” But they could require by law you wear waist bracelet micro-chipped, bar coded with large red letters “SEX OFFENDER”.
Removal, destruction, altering or concealment of “State property” would be a third degree felony punishable with a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years imprisonment and $10,000.00 fine.
This statutory requirement does not create a new crime nor is the penalty impose punishment rather it is the legislators intent to create a regulatory sanction needed to protect the public from the “Sex Offender”
Replace the words waist bracelet with Drivers license.
Likewise, who ever heard of someone presenting their ID (emblazoned or not) prior to committing a crime!
For community safety, the public needs to know he was convicted of a sex offense before he buys a six-pack?? Before he cashes a check?? Before he has a document notarized?? Why?? And why the Hell does law enforcement need to know, so they can more readily harrass him??
(My employer reimburses me for mileage. Each year I and required to update my mileage reimbursement paperwork with a photocopy of my driver’s license, my vehicle registration, and proof of liability insurance. I’m sure having “Sex Offender” emblazoned on my DL would be just grand.🙄😩)
That is the dumbest damn argument I think I have ever read. All someone needs to do is a study on the rate of offenses before and after this law went into effect and I am positive one would find it hasn’t made anyone safer.