……………….
Now, before you comment on this, read this article about
the Montana Supreme Court striking down legislation that was a) passed by the
Montana State legislature, then b) passed by 80 percent of the Montana
electorate.
The
Montana Supreme Court has barred state officials from reporting the immigration
status of people seeking state services, striking down the last piece of a
voter-approved law meant to deter people who are in the U.S. illegally from
living and working in Montana.
The court's unanimous decision on Tuesday upholds a Helena judge's 2014 ruling in a lawsuit that the law denying unemployment benefits, university enrollment and other services to people who arrived in the country illegally was unconstitutional.
The justices went further, rejecting the one remaining provision that required state workers to report to federal immigration officials the names of applicants who are not in the U.S. legally.
"The risk of inconsistent and inaccurate judgments issuing from a multitude of state agents untrained in immigration law and unconstrained by any articulated standards is evident," Justice Patricia Cotter wrote in the opinion.
The Montana Legislature sent the anti-immigrant measure to the 2012 ballot, where it was approved by 80 percent of voters. The new law required state officials to check the immigration status of applicants for unemployment insurance benefits, crime victim services, professional or trade licenses, university enrollment and financial aid and services for the disabled, among other things.
The court's unanimous decision on Tuesday upholds a Helena judge's 2014 ruling in a lawsuit that the law denying unemployment benefits, university enrollment and other services to people who arrived in the country illegally was unconstitutional.
The justices went further, rejecting the one remaining provision that required state workers to report to federal immigration officials the names of applicants who are not in the U.S. legally.
"The risk of inconsistent and inaccurate judgments issuing from a multitude of state agents untrained in immigration law and unconstrained by any articulated standards is evident," Justice Patricia Cotter wrote in the opinion.
The Montana Legislature sent the anti-immigrant measure to the 2012 ballot, where it was approved by 80 percent of voters. The new law required state officials to check the immigration status of applicants for unemployment insurance benefits, crime victim services, professional or trade licenses, university enrollment and financial aid and services for the disabled, among other things.
Now, if you are so inclined, please attempt to
defend "representative democracy", which is observably neither
representative nor democratic. And recall that you will receive neither points
nor credit for citing the outdated "mob rule" objection which
preceded these events by more than 200 years and quite clearly did not
anticipate them.
The debate between direct democracy and so-called representative democracy is more accurately described as a debate between democracy and a deceptive parody thereof.
The debate between direct democracy and so-called representative democracy is more accurately described as a debate between democracy and a deceptive parody thereof.
