Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

A longstanding political technique in the US is to pass patently unconstitutional laws and then ignore their enforcement. This accomplishes both goals: it scares citizens into changing their behavior (in this case, not recording police abuses), and it keeps the lawsuits away (the current standard for legal standing in the US requires demonstrable or imminent harm, which doesn't exist in the absence of enforcement).

That technique is unlikely to succeed in this particular case (since the 1A standard for harm is much lower), but it's worth noting.



Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: