In Words of One Syllable (Well, Sometimes Maybe Two or Three Syllables) 0
Noz explains the recently-revealed FISA decision and the law. It’s not what it’s been reported to be (emphasis added):
let’s say that there was a law outlawing the stealing of jelly beans. a guy named george doesn’t pay attention to that law and steals jelly beans continuously for at least three years. then the new york times publishes a story revealing george’s thefts. hubbub ensues, but george is defiant. he thinks he should be allowed to steal and says he’s going to continue doing it because he thinks he should be allowed to. people still grumble that george is committed repeated felonies so after another year and a half later, george gets congress to pass a law that amends the orginal jelly bean act. the amendment makes it legal for george to steal jelly beans for a six month period (beginning with the passage of the amendment), provided that he only steals red jelly beans.
a critic of the amendment sues, claiming that the amendment is unconstitutional because it discriminates against jelly beans on the basis of their color. the court disagrees and upholds the jelly bean amendment, ruling that the constitution doesn’t prohibit that kind of discrimination.
the court’s decision would not have any relevance to the question of whether george broke the law when he stole jelly beans those first three years. first, the issue in that first three year period is not the constitutional issue addressed by the court, but rather the question whether he violated the original jelly bean statute.
