12 Jan
2004
12 Jan
'04
11:43 a.m.
On Mon, 2004-01-12 at 02:07, Tim May wrote:
Read up on the Lawson case in San Diego.
Tim is referring to Edward Lawson, arrested repeatedly and convicted once in the late 1970s for walking around without ID. The appeal made it to the Supreme Court, as Kolender v Lawson, 461 US 352 (1983). Lawson's conviction was overturned on grounds that the "identify yourself" law was too vague. Not surprisingly, Justice "Actual Innocence" Rehnquist felt that the law was good and Lawson's conviction was righteous. The opinion, with some introductory material, can be found at http://usff.com/hldl/courtcases/kolendervlawson.html A web page discussing this case in relation to a national ID card is http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/dept/polsciwb/page5.htm