09 April 2003

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God Bless Our Troops
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An editorial from someone who does not understand the laws of the Commonwealth:

    "Scalia's assault on American freedoms is rather subtler, and so perhaps rather more dangerous. It's OK to assume intent to intimidate, he wrote, if the defense is given a chance to rebut. In other words, guilty until proved innocent."

Although I disagree with Scalia, the Justice is not going out on a limb here. There are all sorts of laws in Virginia which rely on exactly that sort of logic; concealment, bad checks, larceny, and driving suspended spring immediately to mind. It will be interesting to see if this decision will effect the statutes on the books in Virginia outside of the cross-burning statutue.

I've always thought that the presumptions concerning knowledge and intent were unconstitutional burden shifters (they were a little shocking when I came out of law school filled with ideals) but I've never had a case wherein I could raise the constitutional issue.

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