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Re: [dvd-discuss] O'Connor quoted at USA Today from Eldred oral argument

"D. C. Sessions" writes:

: On Thu, 2002-10-10 at 14:55, Richard Hartman wrote:
: 
: > Make _what_ call??  There is no call to
: > be made!  The Constitution expressly 
: > forbids retroactive legislation in 
: > Section 9, paragraph 3: "No bill of 
: > attainder or ex post facto Law
: > shall be passed."
: 
: That just prevents Congress from passing a law making something
: illegal after the fact, e.g. declaring the speed limit to be
: 35 mph after you've already gone by at 45, then socking you
: for speeding.
: 
: It doesn't apply to making future actions (e.g. publication
: of _The_Jungle_Book_ less than 70 years after Kipling's death)
: illegal.

That is correct, but only because in CALDER v. BULL, 3 U.S. 38
(1798) the Supreme Court held that the ``ex post facto'' clause
only applies to penal (which pretty much means ``criminal'') 
cases.

--
Peter D. Junger--Case Western Reserve University Law School--Cleveland, OH
 EMAIL: junger@samsara.law.cwru.edu    URL:  http://samsara.law.cwru.edu   
        NOTE: junger@pdj2-ra.f-remote.cwru.edu no longer exists