bilby
Fair dinkum thinkum
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- Mar 6, 2007
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The law is an ass; and this is a prime example of that. The best remedy would be for either legislation, or a constitutional amendment, stating clearly that guilt is no longer a state that can be ascribed to inanimate objects. Alternatively the SCOTUS could rule that the illegal act in a given case was an insufficient fraction of the intended use of the object being seized; The example given of a cruise ship not being forfeit due to the presence of a small amount of contraband in the possession of one passenger is interesting, as the court makes it clear that such a case would need to be tried, and that therefore the case of The Palmyra, 25 U.S. (12 Wheat) 1, 14, 6 L.Ed. 531 (1827) is not a binding precedent in all cases, but that consideration must be given to the extent to which illegality is the primary purpose of the object being seized. This SCOTUS ruling in Bennis v. Michigan would appear to have significantly lessened the range of circumstances within which that argument could be made, however.
It doesn't matter what amendment you pass, the court will come up with any creative interpretation it wants to justify how it wants to rule.
Perhaps; but if so, the entire basis of your republic is fucked. Have you considered reapplying for membership of the British Empire? I am sure they will let you have Dominion status, like Canada and Australia, after a couple of centuries of probation.