Bill of Attainder:
Definition: A legislative act that singles out an individual or group for punishment without a trial.
The Constitution of the
"The Bill of Attainder Clause was intended not as a narrow, technical (and therefore soon to be outmoded) prohibition, but rather as an implementation of the separation of powers, a general safeguard against legislative exercise of the judicial function or more simply - trial by legislature."
"These clauses of the Constitution are not of the broad, general nature of the Due Process Clause, but refer to rather precise legal terms which had a meaning under English law at the time the Constitution was adopted. A bill of attainder was a legislative act that singled out one or more persons and imposed punishment on them, without benefit of trial. Such actions were regarded as odious by the framers of the Constitution because it was the traditional role of a court, judging an individual case, to impose punishment." William H. Rehnquist, The Supreme Court, page 166.
"Bills of attainder, ex post facto laws, and laws impairing the obligations of contracts, are contrary to the first principles of the social compact, and to every principle of sound legislation. ... The sober people of
===snipped===> "And Ye Shall Know The Truth And The Truth Shall Set You Free"
WAKE UP
_Don
References:
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Supreme Court cases construing the Bill of Attainder clause include:
Ex Parte Garland, 4 Wallace 333 (1866)
Cummings v. Missouri, 4 Wallace 277 (1866)
U.S. v. Brown, 381 U.S. 437 (1965)
Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, 433 U.S.425 (1977)
Selective Service Administration v. Minnesota PIRG, 468 U.S. 841 (1984)
Rep. Grayson Schools Republican Congressman in Debate
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