Casual Observation

You know, I think there should be a big penalty and more shame involved for those responsible for enacting legislation that is subsequently ruled to be unconstitutional:

A federal appeals court has ruled that an Indiana abortion law signed by Vice President Mike Pence when he served as the state’s governor is unconstitutional.

The legislation, signed by Pence in March 2016, imposed restrictions on a woman’s ability to seek an abortion, including in cases where the child would be born with a disability.

The 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling on the law Thursday. Judge William Bauer wrote in the decision that provisions in the law that bar women from seeking abortions in certain cases “clearly violate” what he described as “well-established Supreme Court precedent, and are therefore, unconstitutional.”

The ruling upholds an earlier federal court decision.

If you break the law, often the result is that you go to prison. Short of that, you usually incur some kind of financial penalty and additional inconveniences. But if you try to break our system of laws by enacting legislation that is itself unlawful, there doesn’t seem to be much accountability for that.

Author: BooMan

Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.