On Sun, 22 Jul 2001, Petro burbled upon us thusly:
Another point you bring up is that a LEO should not enforce laws that "clearly" violate the constitution.
A LEO cannot do that *and still be a LEO*. He can refuse by resigning, but if he simply takes the position that he will only enforce laws he thinks are constitutional he causes a violation of one of the fundamental underpinnings of the constitution, that all people are equal under the law, and that the law is supposed to be equally applied.
Maybe you should look at the oaths that are sworn to by all public employees, of which LEOs are but a small maggot in a big sewer. All of them contain a provision whereby there swear to uphold the constitution. Not to follow orders which may or may not be chain-of-command valid, and *hopefully* constitutional. As for refusing to enforce laws which are personally believed to be unconstitutional, this goes on all the time, both officially [Sherriff Blah refuses to enforce law X - publicly], and unofficially Officer Y refuses to enforce law X - privately]. How many weeks before middle schools reopen, anyway? -- Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin@mfn.org If Governments really want us to behave like civilized human beings, they should give serious consideration towards setting a better example: Ruling by force, rather than consensus; the unrestrained application of unjust laws (which the victim-populations were never allowed input on in the first place); the State policy of justice only for the rich and elected; the intentional abuse and occassionally destruction of entire populations merely to distract an already apathetic and numb electorate... This type of demogoguery must surely wipe out the fascist United States as surely as it wiped out the fascist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The views expressed here are mine, and NOT those of my employers, associates, or others. Besides, if it *were* the opinion of all of those people, I doubt there would be a problem to bitch about in the first place... --------------------------------------------------------------------