A notice of appeal was filed today in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. This is the first formal step required in order to appeal the dismissal of the only court challenge to the International Megan’s Law (IML).
“The IML unfairly and unjustly labels hundreds of thousands of American citizens as sex tourists and sex traffickers,” stated ACSOL President Janice Bellucci. “This punishment will increase when the State Department adds unique identifiers to their passports.”
The IML challenge was filed in federal district court in February, one day after it was signed by the President. The case was dismissed on September for both procedural and substantive reasons.
This is all well and good, and I truly thank Janice and her team, but as others have stated, we need to attack the legal authority (or lack thereof) of the Angel Watch operation and notices that pre-date IML. To me, unless that is undone, anything against IML would still leave the original Angel Watch operation continuing as before.
Angel watch, what’s that a crusader catch phrase, lol. Then u have the SMART agency, lol. Wow, these are cartoon characters. In the real world they rarely save anyone. But they’re really good at killing women and children with missiles. What are they called, oh yeah collateral damage. Whew, must be nice not to have to worry about killing people, maiming, etc, without having to worry about being prosecuted, and then they have the nerve to call themselves heroes, wow.
In Greece they are demonstrating against the imperialism of the u.s. and Obama, they hate him, and I do to do. He screwed us every step of the way. A fantasy world, this is what they live in, and their real enemy is American citizens to them. They’re taught we are all nuts, all Americans are ill, not to be trusted. They terrorize us, can’t you see, we are the real enemy to them. Patriot acts, total surveillance, laws to deny Americans their rights, deals with foreign governments to kill us.
You think this isn’t true, ask any cia or homeland security gestapo agent, they will tell you off the record. Trump’s already showing you the extent of the fantasy, they’re gonna spend tens of millions of dollars just so he can visit and stay at trump tower. You would think that this would be overruled in the name of national interest, not only to keep him safe, but also not to waste tens of millions of dollars? But no, they live in a fantasy world. While we have to beg for food stamps and unemployment benefits, and then they make us feel like garbage for asking?
Heck, I know they’re monitoring this site. So right now I’m bending over for all of them to kiss my @$$. B the way these add and subtract questions are getting tough, can we stay within the number 5, lol.
I’m curious how this Appeal would be received considering that the Lawsuit was dismissed by the Chief Judge of the district correct? Aren’t all of the Judges within the same district in collusion with one another, whether Appeals Court or otherwise?
Yea, me too, considering my lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice by the chief judge of a federal court as well, and then dismissed entirely for failing to file a stupid appearance form. I figured the appellate court would also collude and basically deny the appeal and the supreme Court would deny hearing the case. I want to see how this one turns out.
Excellent!! Please keep fighting on our behalf for Registrants’ civil rights, Janice et al! May valid arguments, scholarly research, and our Constitution prevail!
this lawsuit is very disturbing as it really puts into question the competency of this teams ability to bring any real suite on the real issues…anyone who believes this suit has any chance of prevailing on the grounds and issues brought forward are unattached to reality….unless they refocus their arguments against the angle watch program itself and challenge the justification for these laws there is zero chance for any kind of success…what a colossal waste of time and resources to go forward with this in its present form…..this is also extreemly counterproductive since it will only increase the validity of this law with precedents in its favor….like I said really makes me question the competency and motivation of this organization especially since it won’t bring suit on the real issues…..hmmmmm
before you guys even start let me say it for you….their so incompetent your so smart stop whining go do it yourself if you don’t like this site go create your own….ahh.there goes mike r with his lame assss bipolar remarks again…ummm..anything else I might have left out????im going to start hammering all these so called civil rights leaders who are creating a name for themselves or finding a niche in which to further their organizations thru donations or popularity off the registry with absolutely no interest in abolishing the abomination of the current registration scheme…..im so sick and disgusted with this inaction….I really hope and can’t wait to make all these hundreds of sites dependent on the registry to cease to exist after a layman that has a vested interest to succeed where they fail to even act…..go ahead bash me i don’t care im losing any confidence in any of these organizations….the only ones winning or even really trying to fight in any meaningful way are private individuals with mediocre attorneys that do as little as possible when it comes to providing empirical evidence but but making lengthy hypothetical suppositions in order for more billing hours….SAD…..
The 6th Circuit recently publicly stated that the Registry is PUNITIVE and thus is punishment. This IML would be Punishment on a global level.
Please push for this argument if possible during litigation!
yep right on the money Steve glad we finally found common ground….
I find it odd that an appeal was filed because of the reasons the court listed which are fairly common in cases of new laws. They generally won’t do anything until it is in full effect and someone is actually harmed. This is commonly known as being “ripe”. Simply put, it’s too early.
I see no chance of the CT of appeals overruling the decision. I’m not certain of the strategy, but hey you give it a shot I guess? But I give her credit for trying, she’s done a lot for our cause. That’s for sure. Be grateful, I don’t hear many other voices as vocal as Janice’s.
one of the things that really bothers me about intolerant people is being played out right now with this stupid election crap..you have all these self proclaimed self righteous self claimed morally superior people who are fermenting hate and bigotry by claiming the other side are racist sexist immoral simply because they don’t fit into their mold or represent their beliefs or agendas…they dont respect our Constitution or that someone they don’t agree with got elected with extreemly close to the popular vote and with an overwhelming majority of the college electorate….keep spouting about how this candidate doesn’t reflect the views of the American people and call him racist sexist and as far as a sexual predator as a reason to forment violence in our country….wake up…illegal immigration is rampant and is against the law…African American communities are war zones and jungles with gorilla warfare where I wouldn’t even walk down the street without body armour and armed to the teeth…people on every corner begging for food or money and exploding homeless populations…infrastructures are so bad I have to drive on the lines or in between lanes because the streets are so deteriorated…wages haven’t changed since I started in the workforce over thirty years ago…rich getting filthy richer poor becoming not just poor but destitute…the Constitution being trampled on and completely gutted by the liberals and all the leftest claiming foul because the country is choosing someone and something new that may upset their status qou….these self righteous people won’t even hear what anyone has to say if it isn’t what they want to hear….something going on here on a micro level…..
Thanks for your hard work, Janice. This is just one of many battles in our war for recognition that we are human and deserve to be treated as such.
Could a moderator add in the links to the text of the original motion with any evidence, the dismissal, as well as the text of the appeal and any other relevant info?
It’s been awhile since I read what was being challenged and if anything was allowed to be added to the lawsuit. I think I remember the plaintiffs not being good choices because even without the identifier they would still be denied by Angel Watch.
To Mike R.
I think you should understand by now, and I think Janice already knows, that getting rid of the registry just isn’t feasible right now. I think her strategy has been to limit it’s application to demonstrate it’s ineffectiveness. Harping about her determination and tactics aren’t reasonable. I wondered why it didn’t appear that this organization was directly challenging the registry, but I understood why, because it wasn’t going to happen. So why waste resources when no benefit would be achieved. The big picture is what you look at, the systematic dismantling of it. Then when it reaches a point where it’s existence is so minimal and eroded, it can be simply swept away. It’s beginning to happen, can’t you see that. Little by little the tide is turning. A piece here and a piece there, then when the time is right, you destroy it’s remaining support by virtue of its weakness. In Michigan, Tennessee, kentucky, and Ohio it has been gutted in some measure. So don’t blame Janice, she’s doing her part, or the organization. It’s helped a lot of us already, and will continue to. I understand, I do, but your anger is misplaced, direct it at those who support registries, not those fighting against them.
Thanks again for all you do for us Janice. Life would be so much worse without you.
Thank you for doing this. I am grateful from the bottom of my heart, even though I am not a world traveler. I have little to offer beyond my presence at the next protest, if there is one.
Oh man, have guys seen what the hypocritical Democrats are saying about Trump’s ideas for a muslim registry? Here’s the quote from the Democratic national committee, “Donald Trump’s proposed muslim registry is nothing less than institutionalized discrimination and a brazen assault on freedom of religion.”. Haha, it doesn’t stop them from practicing their religion. And it doesn’t discriminate, they will be free to become citizens. Unlike us, we lost our citizenship and all of our rights.
You gotta be kidding me, institutionalized discrimination like what’s been done to us? Brazen assault in freedom of religion, how about the brazen assault on all of our rights, to include imprisonment for not surrendering those rights. Wow, now I’m in the sink throwing up. Like I said before, put them all on registries trump, including all persons that don’t follow the constitution. Please apply registries to all drunks with proven records of recidivism with DUI or DWIs. All other criminals, all child and adult abusers, including parents who allow their children online without supervision, and anyone who is a threat to the public safety.
I so wholeheartedly disagree that the registry in its current form cannot be overturned by the courts….I’m very glad to see some positive conversation about what I’ve said from most of you on here..even from steve…guess some like the guy who only visits to bash me won’t ever open their minds to anything besides what they want to hear but can’t make or touch everyone’s curriousity I guess….war called me way back over a year and a half ago after I signed up for their class action and told me they would be filing last fall…never happened can’t get any responses as to why….it apparently isn’t going to happen unless one of us who realistically want to topple the registry does it themselves….why would any organizations want to cut off their reason to exist??? they have all these board members and other staffing,their getting 504 or 503 tax exemptions or whatever it is, they have a platform that lets them travel and have meetings and purchase necessary supplies and equipment all of which are write offs….I don’t care what anyone says there is a rational basis for such inaction as to why absolutely NO ONE has or will challenge the Courts or legislators justification for these laws and the false facts and lack of data that was and is central to their decisions…..you would have to be literally in a braindead comma not to question why……we are cows being herded to the slaughter right along with our democratic Republic….key word Republic…means we are a country of constitutional laws and rights not a mob or oligarchy rule….
I really wish those attorneys who fought for those parollees residency rights would bring this kind of suit im talking about…..we need constitutional law professors and other extreemly talented and articulate attorneys to draft this motion and it will take hundreds and hundreds of hours and be over a hundred pages or close to it long….this is and will be the biggest issue the courts have or probably ever will have to decide on as it will set the stage as to what kind of country we have going forward….i cant express how important this is to our country and the world’s….I kind of hope no one does file and I as a layman get to be the first to challenge this bs and make the courts and the academic legal community take note what a self taught determined true American can actual achieve…laugh at me now call me egotistical and naive and even crazy but I will not stop or even be discouraged by anyone or anything from doing this because I am a fuc……warrior and I have the courage and conviction of a true American that has made this the greatest country in the world but is simply losing its way because of inaction and gutless cowardness thats rampant and out of control…..thank thank you thank you and god bless America thank you….lmfao….
not going into massive detail here but here is the beginning of a true argument against cruel and unusual punishment which is going to be the most difficult argument to make not because is isnt easy to prove but because the courts have in the past declined to even hear 99.9% of cases involving this issue…Their central theme is that they deffer this subject to the discretion of the legislative body that is why someone can get life without parole for shoplifting under the three strikes law…It can and will be done though….
SIXTH CLAIM
(Cruel and Unusual Punishment)
(6) The sex offender registration and notification laws are subjecting me to so onerous and far reaching and vague regulations that is not only impossible for me to comply with it is also so disproportionate to my offence that it can no longer be considered regulatory in nature or effect and is so extreme as to shock the coincidence of ordinary citizens of this country. These new registration schemes are in fact newly designed measures to apply to current punishments that have been traditional in this country for over a hundred years. Any new punishments that have been added to what has been in the past seen as acceptable and traditional punishments and that have been in place for decades if not centuries are subject to strict review by the courts for excessiveness. These laws are a violation of the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment and ex post facto clauses of the United States Constitution as well as the California Constitution.
I am asking this Court to recognize what other courts across the country have increasingly found: that the nature of sex offender registration has fundamentally changed since 2003, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a registration scheme that imposed only “minor and indirect” restraints on registrants. See Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84, 100 (2003).
Numerous courts—most recently the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit—have now recognized that the retroactive application of super sex offender registration schemes and their associated restrictions are indeed so severe that they now raise to the level of punishment in violation of the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto laws. See, e.g., Doe v. Miami-Dade County,No. 15-14336, —F.3d.—, 2016 WL 5334979 (11th Cir. Sept. 23, 2016) (slip opinion); Does #1–5 v. Snyder, 834 F.3d 696 (6th Cir. 2016); U.S. v. Juvenile Male, 590 F.3d 924 (9th Cir. 2009), vacated as moot, 131 S.Ct. 2860 (2011); State v. Williams, 952 N.E.2d 1103 (Ohio 2011); Wallace v. State, 905 N.E.2d 371 (Ind. 2009); State v. Letalien, 985 A.2d 4 (Me. 2009); Commonwealth v. Baker, 295 S.W.3d 437 (Ky. 2009); Doe v. State, 189 P.3d 999 (Alaska 2008); see, also, Doe v. Swearingen, No. 4:16cv501-RH/CAS, prelim. inj. at 11 (N.D. Fla. September 27, 2016) (Florida sex offender registry law requirement to report all “internet identifiers” unconstitutionally vague); In re W.Z., 957 N.E.2d 367 (Ohio Ct. App. 2011) (automatic classification of juvenile as Tier III sex offender required to register for life based solely on crime of conviction violates due process).
Even though a century has passed since the Supreme Court started reviewing criminal punishments for excessiveness under the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause, this area of doctrine remains highly problematic. The Court has never answered the claim that proportionality review is illegitimate in light of the Eighth Amendment’s original meaning. The Court has also adopted an ever-shifting definition of excessiveness, making the very concept of proportionality incoherent. Finally, the Court’s method of measuring proportionality is unreliable and self-contradictory. As a result, a controlling plurality of the Court has insisted that proportionality review be limited to a narrow class of cases. This area of doctrine needs rethinking.
The Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause was originally meant to prohibit excessive punishments as well as barbaric ones and that proportionality review is therefore unquestionably legitimate. Proportionality is a retributive concept, not a utilitarian one. Punishments are unconstitutionally excessive if they are harsher than the defendant deserves as a retributive matter.
this argument alone is going to take 40 or 50 hours to complete and will have to be at least close to ten or more pages long as well as numerous hours of research…it can and will be done though…
good God dont make this thread be about Mike R. Please stop acknowledging him and discuss real issues!!
the following is a crucial statement by the court in Michigan.
As we have explained, this case involves far more than an Ex Post Facto challenge. And as the district court’s detailed opinions make evident, Plaintiffs’ arguments on these other issues are far from frivolous and involve matters of great public importance. These questions, however, will have to wait for another day because none of the contested provisions may now be applied to the plaintiffs in this lawsuit, and anything we would say on those other matters would be dicta. We therefore reverse the district court’s decision that SORA is not an Ex Post Facto law and remand for entry of judgment consistent with this opinion.
I was wondering if we could have a follow-up phone conference to discuss generally the logistics of the Appeal? Some questions I have include: How long would the Appeal Process take? Would the approval of this Appeal enable a new Motion for an Injunction?
agreed…we are digressing from the topic….