Judge David Hamilton v. Indiana Legislature Ruling
I-05-0813-C, H/K Hinrichs v. Bosma
By Ed Sparks
On May 16, 2006, the Indianapolis Star published a letter to the editor from a Mr. Dan Cook who chided Rep. Brian Bosma for wasting time and money on pursuing the “prayer in the chamber” lawsuit. That same newspaper on March 5, 2006 printed a letter from me in which I introduced the concept that:
“Congress may delegate no power, to any government agency, or court, that it does not possess.”
There are other writings on that subject. Consider just these few:
Chief Justice Marshall wrote in Barron v. Mayor & City Council of Baltimore, 32 U.S. 243 (1883): “Had the framers of these amendments intended them to be limitations on the powers of the state governments, they would have imitated the framers of the original constitution, and have expressed that intention.”
When the Constitution wants something to apply to the state it clearly says so. In Article I, Section 9 the Constitution states that “no bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.” The Fourteenth Amendment was passed on June 13, 1866 and is prohibited by the Constitution from affecting the First Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment is an ex post facto law. Article I, Section 10, Clause 1 prohibits States from passing any “Bill of Attainder” or “ex post facto law”.
