Extranational Legal Authority - Molester Case Opens Can of Worms

[Guest Blackwater]

FoxNews

PHILADELPHIA : Seven years ago, Russian courts convicted a wealthy

American motel owner of molesting children, sent him to prison, then

expelled him from the country.

 

The experience did little to keep Anthony "Mark" Bianchi stateside.

Over the next few years, U.S. officials allege, he traveled to

Moldova, Romania, Cambodia and Cuba to recruit destitute boys for

sexual trysts.

 

Bianchi, 44, of North Wildwood, N.J., faces trial beginning Monday

under a controversial federal law aimed at thwarting "sex tourism." He

is accused in this country of committing crimes, assaulting

nearly a dozen minors on foreign soil.

 

More than 50 cases have been brought under what's known as the Protect

Act, and more than 30 of the defendants have been convicted, the

Justice Department says.

 

So far, however, only one federal appeals court, the 9th U.S.

Circuit Court of Appeals has reviewed the law, upholding it

in a 2-1 ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear

an appeal of that decision.

 

- - - - -

 

"Decided not to hear an appeal" ... meaning they KNOW it's

an illegal law but won't DO anything about it because of

political considerations. Pretty much the same for a lot

of this "anti-terrorism" stuff, the Court just chickens

out and does the three-monkeys bit.

 

You know, IF it's OK to prosecute an American for something

they did in another country - either legal or ignored there -

then it's equally OK for countries like Iran to issue death

warrants for heretics like Salmon Rushdie or Danish cartoonists

for 'crimes' committed outside Irans borders. Did your girlfriend

wear a bikini to the beach this weekend ? Worthy of a death

sentence under Iranian law ... and since US law applies anywhere,

so does Iranian law - right ?

 

This anti-'sex tourist' law is one of those ones with good

intentions (depending on your culture of origin anyway)

but it's really BAD law - bad enough so our worst enemies

can find ways to exploit the precedent. I propose a NEW

law, that the USSC cannot refuse to hear cases or create

an unnecessary delay in hearing them. If bad laws aren't

quickly flushed down the toilet, all our good laws are

for naught.