Re: Pornography, What is it?

[tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)]

root wrote:

> Also, the 1st Amendment says that Congress shall make no law, it doesn't say
> a damn thing about the states doing it. When I read this amendment what I  see
> is the founding fathers saying it is up to each state to decide for themselves.
> 
...
> The 1st. Amendment says nothing about what the states can do, only Congress.

The Amendment(s) may read "Congress shall make no law...," but the
states are *not* in fact able to pass laws restricting freedom of speech,
establish religions, quarter troops, and so on. Or, rather, they may
go ahead and pass such laws, but the Supreme Court will generally
strike them down as being "unconstitutional."

See how far Utah would get in establishing Mormonism as the official
state religion ("But the Constitution says _Congress_ shall make not
no, and we're not the Congress, so there!").

Deviations exist, of coure. The Second Amendment is in fact routinely
trampled by various states and local jurisdictions, as states ban
various types of guns, etc. There is hope in the gun rights community
that the Supremes will someday deign to hear a case on this and so
strike down these laws which clearly controvert the Constitution.

I'm  not a lawyer, and it's been 25 years since I was in a "civics"
class, so I'm sorry to not recall the precise language by which
"Congress shall make no law" also is taken to apply to Sacramento,
Albany, Austin, and so forth.


--Tim May