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Key Points from the Government's Oral Argument

By Corey Rayburnyung

Kagan, for the government opens with this contention:To see why, to understand the basis for this statute, it might be helpful to go all the way back to 1945, when what this Court later called "a conspicuously able committee of Federal judges" recommended that Congress pass section 4246, a very similar civil commitment law that has been on the books for some 60 years.To me, this illustrates exactly what is wrong about the government's position. It is based upon a very different era in Commerce Clause and federal jurisdiction doctrine. The Court may very well return us to that system, but I just find it an odd choice for an opening given the lower court opinions that found Lopez and Morrison proved there was no basis for federal jurisdiction under 4248...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sex Crimes on January 12, 2010 (boomark / email).