The U. S. Supreme Court made a terrible mistake 20 years ago. As a result of that mistake, millions of Americans who are required to register and their families have been harmed, some even killed by vigilantes.
The mistake to which I refer is the decision, Smith v. Doe, in which the Court found that the requirement to register was the same as applying for membership in Price Club. That registration is an administrative requirement, not punishment, and therefore new sex offender laws could be passed and applied retroactively.
The Court was wrong 20 years ago and it is now time for the Court to admit its mistake.
And who would be better to lead that effort than Chief Justice John Roberts? The same John Roberts who argued during oral argument in Smith v. Doe that the requirement to register is the same as applying for membership in Price Club.
My best guess is that at the time John Roberts agreed to that statement he had never applied for membership in Price Club or any other large discount store. Because if he had applied for a Price Club membership, he would have known that the information required on that application would not include information about his employer, his car or his internet identifiers. He would also have known that the information required on that application would not be posted on a public website.
Also during oral argument, John Roberts stated that there is nothing burdensome about the requirement to register. Once again, my best guess is that John Roberts has never been required to register nor has he accompanied a person during the registration process.
As an observer of the registration process, I have seen law enforcement officials bully and threaten people with arrest during registration. I have also listened to countless registrants who fear, not celebrate, their upcoming birthdays because they must make their annual pilgrimage to their registration office.
The U. S. Supreme Court has made terrible mistakes in the past. For example, the Court decided in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate but equal educations were constitutional and that U.S. citizens of Japanese descent could be sent to internment camps. The Court later corrected those mistakes and it’s time, no it is past time, for the Court to correct the terrible mistake it made in Smith v. Doe.
Smith v. Doe must go!
It is because I feel so strongly about the need to overturn this case that I have decided to participate in a vigil on March 7 near the steps of the U. S. Supreme Court. When I participate in the vigil, I will not represent ACSOL, which has withdrawn its support for the event. Instead, I will participate in the vigil as a civil rights attorney.
We must educate the Court regarding the harm they have caused and we must demand that the Court overturn Smith v. Doe now! Please join me for what is certain to be a memorable event and perhaps a turning point.
Related article:
How SCOTUS Promoted Pernicious Myths About Sex Offender Registries [reason.com 3/1/23]
Give them hell Janice, and thank you for everyone else who is going.
The time has Come! We must Unite ! Let justice be Heard !
I went to register once and a lieutenant registered me. He told me that I had two email addresses on file, I only had one. The only difference beteewn the two was the last digit. I told him that the second email address was not right. He threatened to lock me up for false reporting. I told him that I do not work for the Sheriff’s Office, I do not do data entry for the Sheriff’s Office, or have access to their keyboard during registration, as I am not an employee of the Sheriff”s Office! I told him that, obviously, one of his people entered one digit wrong and failed to delete it! He was nothing but a jerk! We have to stand up to unwarranted oppression at some point! Needlees to say, I was not arrested.
Thank you for all you do, Janice. I wish I could be there — as a registrant and human being.
Thank you Janice; your work is very much appreciated. No one can understand how the knots in the stomach start a week before the birthday. And the fear that people you have known for years will find out you’re a registrant, just never leaves.
There really should be a path, for those successful in rehabilitation, to get off of the registry which would make it so much easier to resume careers and support families.
Yes, Thank You, Janice for standing up and showing up and speaking up! This government-sponsored hatred and illegal surveilance must end! We must restore habeas corpus for ALL!
Thank you Janice! Your dedication is so much appreciated!
What is sad is I just renewed my “Price Club” membership last month, as I noted under a separate entry, and my actual Price Club membership today under the DBA name it is known as today.
As I noted in another entry for the reason.com article posted here, Roberts and Thomas should have birthday presents presented to them with all of the negative stats since this opinion came down of this case of those who are forced to register and the related impacts of it, e.g. vigilante actions, suicides, etc.
Every year since I started registering my birthday has become hell and I am not fit company during the week of my birthday. My family fears my mercurial moods and I feel a combination of dread, anger, bitterness and spite. I will be completely honest I HATE MY BIRTHDAY AND I DESPISE MY COUNTRY. I cannot even leave it though I hate it. I was proud to serve my country as a teen, but now I hate it with a passion bordering on the same passion ascribed to Christ for humanity.
I wish I could be there too, Janice. All the power to our people. This is an oppressive and unconstitutional regime and needs to be stopped immediately and completely.
Janice, thank you for going and standing up to government bullying. May the force be with you!
Just last month our son was living his dream life in Hawaii. His so-called offense was committed 21 years ago. He had the approval of his landlord who supported his housing, he had secured employment.
He was so happy and so were we, knowing he deserved this after so many years of heartbreak and hardships.
Suddenly, he was let go from his job. (someone had found him on the registry and complained to the corporate office.)
Next came the posters with his pictures and the lies within. The posters also included his landlords name and landlords email address, then came the threats to his landlord and family.
Next came the notice to move. A ten day notice!!! His life had to be packed and shipped back to San Diego, to start all over again!
I am so sick of this!
And where do you go for help? All these people, landlords, attorneys, law enforcement, courts, in our society break laws and treat registered citizens in a way that no one else would get away with or tolerate..Registraints and their families are just sitting ducks with no recourse.
I would be at those Supreme Court steps if it were possible. But most registrants or their families don’t have the resourses to do so. The anger I have for our country and those that make these laws is insurmountable.
John Roberts stated that there is nothing burdensome about the requirement to register.
What about not being able support one family, or ones self??? Even with registration to protect
everyone we are under there thumb but are not trusted still ??? Even after 10 20 30 years with out complaints or charges??
Thank you Janice
Janice Is there any case at the appellate level that might make it to SCOTUS. I guess it would have to be 2 cases in 2 different districts that were in conflict in order to justify a trip to The Supremes.
Janice,
Thank you for your continued determination for fighting for our civil rights and against oppression. Registering on our birthdays is akin to a Clockwork Orange mental manipulation to where we hate our birthdays and never want to celebrate it. Didn’t chief Justice Roberts say a person didn’t have to do in-person reporting too, because that would be a disability? SCOTUS scoffed that the internet was like a town square, but 20 years later it is like being put on a stockade 24 hours a day, everyday – in the medieval period, being put in a stockade would last 3 hours at most. By being exposed to all of the world like in a stockade is what leads to discrimination, ostracization, and violence, which has led to death.
Just remind them about Justice Alito citing the false reporting of the “frightening and high” recidivism rates of sex offenders. Really dig into his earnest ignorance to fulfill fearmongering on false data!
We have suffered. Even off the registry, we continue to suffer. In fact, being off the registry in one state may not be recognized in another state. It’s truly debilitating of freedom that is supposed to be given back once out of custody.
AMEN!!!!!!!
Anyone going to DC next week should visit the National Japanese American Memorial. It’s just one block north of the Capitol. Some of the quotes remind us that we’ve been through this before, and still haven’t learned our lesson.
This nonsense needs to end. The last time I went to register, they gave me the paperwork and I noticed it said I have been registering since 2018. I immediately told them it was wrong and I needed it changed (I’ve been registering since 2007). The officer then said we will correct it the next time you register. I then told them we will have to do it then or I will have to take it higher. He wondered why I was raising such a fuss, since to him I still had to register regardless. I then explained to him registrants have different rules they must follow based on conviction date and that I need everything correct so there’s no misunderstanding. Many police dont even know the rules we must follow and are just shooting from the hip when applying them. This is another reason this mess needs to end. I cant tell you how many times officers have told me they consider me a model registrant and that I shouldnt have to do it anymore, only to tell them its not that easy and Lawyers I’ve spoken to have told me I will have to look at spending upwards 10K just to petition. The fact it costs so much is a crime in itself……..
March 7th is right around the corner, andI will be with you all in spirit. For fun, why can’t you take a sample application of the Price Club and also the 5 or 6 page registration paperwork. This way, they can clearly see the difference between the two. Especially the price club membership is voluntary and registration is mandatory under threat of imprisonment.
Okay, so if it is overturned, then what happens? Does the state of Texas now have to honor the plea agreement the gave me and 1000’s others?
Thank you Janice for being part of this important event. I too dread the approach of my birthday every year and am tired of the bullying. I just renewed my Costco card online, something I cannot do with my 290 registration. Chief Justice Roberts was ignorant and wrong, and continues to be so. He needs a reality check and I hope that the vigil in DC gets his attention.
After ACSOL backed out, I thought this event would likely fail. I am glad that it is going to happen, and I wish that I had not cancelled my plans to attend.
The SCOTUS should have some legal mechanism for when a members mental condition becomes a medical consideration. It could be useful to apply this scenario to someones past holdings in terms of today’s developments if they do not recognize how things have morphed beyond that position. Whether it would be legally effective, to petition for a psychological evaluation of someones reasoning abilities, it would not diminish it’s effectiveness in simply and pointedly making the comparisons between the two points in time.
Thanks Janice! You’ve nailed the mistakes and cruelties of the Registry. Just like slavery, the internment of Japanese citizens during WWII, and the treatment immigrants received during the last president’s tenure, abolition is the only answer! As with the past laws that violated the rights of specific citizens, the Registry must be totally abolished!!
Have a peak at my New York registry page to see the only Level 3 person with the most bizarre listing in the country. type battista and see for yourselves and feel free to comment.
the section of the law plus the sub section are all ZERO’S. Where victims age/sex is it’s completely blank. although I never left the state they claim it was committed elsewhere and that I moved here afterwards. I’m still living in the house I was a child growing up in. Thanks to SCOTUS I have no money to be able to move out and since both my parents died my family has to pay to keep me housed here.
I have also listened to countless registrants who fear, not celebrate, their upcoming birthdays because they must make their annual pilgrimage to their registration office.
I personally believe that was actually done (making one register during the birthday month) out of malicious spite and hate so-as to ruin what little joy we have to look forwards to and to elicit maximum emotional distress.
It’s retaliatory vengeance and hate and the highest form of toxic negativity.
PUNISHMENT!