Article 1, Section 9, Sentence 3 of the United States Constitution. It bears repeating with emphasis: “No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.”
Notice that there’s no exemptions listed, not even in cases where a ridiculously ill-conceived bailout failed to place adequate restrictions on the use of government funds. And yet, we have senators with room-temperature IQs threatening to attempt to pass not only bills of attainder, but ex post facto bills of attainder, targeting persons who are receiving bonuses from AIG. Nevermind that these bonuses were contractual obligations that, if not paid out, would have exposed AIG to ridiculously expensive lawsuits. Nevermind that lawmakers knew about these bonuses when the bailout was first proposed and made no effort to prohibit the use of bailout funds.
Now, do I think these people deserve their bonuses? Absolutely not. Do I think that the recipients of these bonuses ought to voluntarily refuse them? Absolutely. But it’s a terribly bad precedent to be demanding ex post facto laws or bills of attainder simply because the government rushed legislation through without properly considering the repercussions. Do the people clamboring for blood realize the terrifying issues that would be raised by allowing this sort of legislation? Do they just think that they would be immune to the abuse of ex post facto laws or bills of attainder? This is a genie that we cannot allow to get out of the bottle; it opens up far too many opportunities for abuse.
Three Cheers. My God, this is not a slippery slope, it’s a 90 degree cliff made of ice. I have felt for a long time that the majority of Congress was just plain stupid, but this is supremely stupid even for them.
Comment by Emma — Thursday, 19 March, 2009 @ 13:57