President Obama signed HR 515 into law on February 8. The law will require federal agencies to notify destination countries that registered citizens are coming to visit as well as to require the Secretary of State to add a “unique identifier” to the passports of some registered citizens.
“The President’s decision, if unchallenged, would require the Secretary of State to add a Scarlet Letter to the passports of hundreds of thousands of American citizens,” stated CA RSOL president Janice Bellucci. “Therefore a lawsuit has been prepared and will be filed on February 9 challenging the International Megan’s Law.”
The lawsuit will be filed in U.S. District Court, San Francisco, on behalf of four registered citizens. The lawsuit alleges that International Megan’s Law violates several provisions in the U.S. Constitution including the First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment, as well as the equal protection and ex facto clauses. Subsequent to filing of the lawsuit, an application for a Preliminary Injunction will be filed which, if granted, would stop the law from being implemented.
Related
Statement by the Press Secretary on H.R. 515, H.R. 4188, S. 2152 – The White House
No real surprise. On to the court system. Let’s kill this thing.
Not one bit surprised obama would sign this. He doesn’t give a damn about the constitution, never did and never will; even though his background may have led others to think otherwise. I also won’t be surprised if the courts eventually claim this affront to truth and all that is right is no different that having a price club membership.
I am really ashamed to be a American at this point, to think this would have happened many many years after I took a plea and then paid my debt in full and still not allowed to have my life back. As I said before donation coming your way and will monthly as well as Texas voices. No matter where we live we are in this together.
Our government has just replaced “God Bless America” with “Seig Heil”. Break out the yellow stars of David, upside-down pink triangles, etc.
Sad but not surprising. Obama has been a huge letdown basically in all aspects of his presidency. So much for all of that CHANGE he talked about. It was just more hot air from another windbag politician. What a loser!
It’s disappointing to see that the president signed this. I tend to think of Obama as being a liberal and generally liberals are more understanding and compassionate from my experience. This is disgraceful coming from someone with his intellect.
Thank you Janice Bellucci for fighting this.
Thank God for Janice Bellucci and the lawsuit.
By signing this into law, our President of the United States just violated my rights he’s vowed to protect. His is a traitor and needs to be impeached for this action.
Yes, THANK GOD for Janice Bellucci et al. My donation is on its way!
I remember in the Nebraska case the plaintiffs were able to get legislator’s e-mails, and were able to prove that the changes were made as intended punishment. I think that would be a good start here. There should be six years worth of punishment statements between Chris Smith and the co-authors to prove legislative intent to punish expost facto.
This is the last straw. They have put us in virtual prison and this must not be allowed.
We have as much right – Human Right – to explore this earth that we evolved on and are part of.
No “law” made by man is absolute and this one is nothing more than evil punishment.
Again my country disappoints me and I look forward to the day that I can leave and renounce my citizenship to the USA officially as of this moment I no longer consider myself an American but a political prisoner being held hostage within the confines of the boarders of the United States of America!
Let Me OUT!
I recently was working for a travel business that helped issue passports to people and was excited to get my passport because I wanted to travel. I always wanted to visit Europe and do touristy stuff. Like take a photo in the Eiffel tower and things like that. Sex tourism or sex itself is never on my mind when I travel. But now ? My travel days are over. There is no way I will ever get a passport just to satisfy this governments sadistic blood lust in humiliating me by putting a nasty mark on my little blue book. I really thank the people of RSOL and affiliates for fighting this and continue fighting this. I hate being American. Only human now. A child of the Earth.
Thank you Janice and the four registered citizens taking a stand against this! And thank you for continuing to fight for us. I’ve made a donation already this month, but plan to make another one shortly!
Really silly question, but wouldn’t an injunction issued by a court in San Francisco only help stop the law from being implemented by the against the citizens in Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Lake County, Napa, Sonoma, Marin, Sanfrancisco, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara and San Benito Counties? It will have no effect on stopping this law in the rest of the country unless eventually SCOTUS takes the case?
We all knew this was coming. Even the President does not have the guts to veto a law when it concerns sex offenders. Even he is not smart enough to do his research and realize that all this is based on lies and myths and it has escalated so much that nobody can even see the truth anymore. These lies have been pounded into peoples’ heads for too long to undo the cruelty and punishment this all has caused. This law is against all human rights and it is absolutely unconstitutional. It puts everyone in the same boat yet again, without even considering the time that has elapsed since their last offense. It does not put into account that most of these registrants live law abiding lives with families of their own, friends and co-workers who love them. When will they realize that they are not only destroying the registrant’s life but equally their families’ lives? This lawsuit will have to be successful. We can’t be treated like this any longer. Enough is enough. Murderers don’t have to go through this. Nobody should. That is why we have prisons, to do your time and be done with it. I have HAD it!!
Somewhat related. I am planning to travel this summer to Costa Rica, has anyone
experienced any issues with regards to Costa Rica?
Thank you
The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves. We need to somehow get more people involved, and do a little more ourselves to reduce the popularity of this registry by supporting and being involved in positive actions. More letters, more protests, more lawsuits, and more education. This is a long term opportunity to enact some change, but the protest is still in its infancy.
** Unbelievable! ** There is NO news coverage of the Bill’s signing!! And only one very small news article online. Where are all the politicians and the press? Why aren’t the law’s promoters and President Obama glorifying themselves and wrapping themselves in the mantle of “if this saves one child…”?
If this BS law is so f##king important, where’s all the coverage??? (Or are they being stealthy so they can quietly expand it to include other reviled groups of citizens?)
Suggestion with compassion, complaining isn’t going to stop this. Our donations and support will. Reach in your wallets and make a donation to help fund this fight. Another donation from my family on the way.
This was expected. This will not harm Obama’s legacy at all. The public doesn’t give a shit about RSO rights. Hundreds of Senators and Representatives on the left and right, progressive, libertarian, tea party, and moderate could have stood up over the past month, but not a single one did. 50 out of 50 states have horrendous registries. No one cares.
Now if this actually ends up in the Supreme Court (not a certainty), here’s where we stand now:
Thomas and Scalia are absolutely, 100% going to rule this law constitutional. Scalia is the guy who said it’s ok to execute an innocent man, as long as due process was followed. Thomas is Scalia’s little bitch and does whatever he says. (Scalia may vote in favor of sex offender rights, only if this is a 7-2 case against us, as he enjoys dissenting for the sake of dissenting.)
Alito has been starting to give Thomas and Scalia a run for their money in terms of being right wing. This guy will no doubt vote in favor of this bill.
Ginsburg is our #1 ally. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the most powerful person in the US who has ever stood up for sex offender rights with such clear conviction. Read her dissent in the 2003 case. http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/538/84.html Unfortunately, she may not be alive much longer due to health issues. Basically her dissent says “LOL this is punishment people, you can’t do that according to the Constitution!”
Breyer joined Ginsburg in her dissent in 2003. He’s another one of the few allies we have.
Sotomayor and Kagan are relatively recent appointees. Though they have a bit of a progressive streak, but are by no means guaranteed votes in our favor.
Cheif Justice Roberts will likely vote against us, though he shock everyone in the Obamacare ruling by joining the left wing justices. In that case however, overturning Obamacare would have meant stripping health insurance from millions of people, and I suspect he was aware of that. In this case, no one is going to give a shit if a few thousand passports a year are stamped with a giant “S”.
That leaves us at 4-4 (or we lose 6-2 if Kagan and Sotomayor aren’t with us) with Kennedy as the deciding vote. He is a Reagan appointee who has moved to the left. He is considered a traitor by conservatives. Despite left wing tendencies, he did write the opinion for the court in the famous 2003 case where registration was declared “not punishment”. So it very well may come down to if Kennedy changes his mind or not. Maybe 13 years of evidence that this is punishment changed him. Maybe passport stamping is too far for him. We’ll see. (if it makes it to the Supreme Court, we’ll see)
This of course assumes no justices die or retire. With the age and health of some members, there’s a good chance the court may look different in a couple years. This would be bad for us, as the GOP majority in the Senate will surely block any more progressive appointees regardless of who the President is. If a conservative justice replaces one of the 4 left wing justices or Kennedy, we have no chance.
The Supreme Court is the only hope of laws changing in favor of RSO rights. I’d put our chances of any significant change at about 10%. There’s a good chance the passport provision gets rolled back. Odds are status quo will win. This is still our best chance in a generation though.
This is why I am voting for Trump because I have nothing else to lose and, it will be fun taking everyone else down with me.
If, Obama did veto the bill, it would not survived a override vote in Congress and would of become law, in about 2 months, anyway. What really happen is this getting it into the courts, 2 months earlier. Thank you Janice for being here for us.
We need to start using the registry as a forum site to come together and empower each other for our own Constitutional good. Lets make the registry the source of it’s own demise. Kind of poetic!
Ok! It’s signed! We have a lawsuit against HR 515. Next question.. When does it become a law? January 2017 or effective immediately?