On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 12:06 AM, Jim Bell <jamesdbe...@yahoo.com> wrote: > From: Philip Shaw <wahspil...@gmail.com> > On 21 Jan 2014, at 12:47 , J.A. Terranson <me...@mfn.org> wrote:
>> in specific cases). (For criminal matters, in many jurisdictions the >> government can simply refuse to prosecute cases against its agents and >> private prosecutions aren’t permitted in some places Particularly regarding the US, in what places are such prosecutions or prosecutors permitted? >>> Telecom/NSA/*retroactive immunity* ring a bell? >>Retroactive acquittal is relatively OK - it is a good thing when applied to >>Retroactive indictment is the problem, and is far more dangerous. > > Au contraire! A good argument can be made that retroactive acquittal (more > precisely, in this case, retroactive civil immunity of corporations) is a > violation of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which says in > relevant part: > > Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and > subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and > of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law > which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United > States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or > property, without due process of law; _nor deny to any person within its > jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws_. > > If people were supposed to be protected by the law in question, and once it > was found out that the corporations were violating it (worse, doing that on > behalf of the government!) then to give those corporations retroactive civil > immunity amounts to denying the public that protection the law ostensibly > was intended to provide. The quote refers to the States doing the making/enforcing of abridging, the depriving, and the denying regarding fed law, or other state's laws as applicable. I believe telecom/nsa immunity happened only at the federal level, eg: fed wiretap law. (ie: The would be equal blanket protection of fed law was duly wiped out at the fed level, leaving suing AT&T in state court under state wiretap law as your only remaining option.)
