Michigan Law Review: International Megan’s Law as Compelled Speech
When the IML was signed into law, a handful of observers saw it for what it was: bad policy. The sole representative to object to the passport identifier during congressional debate worried that the provision could lead to unintended consequences, including persecution and the risk of bodily harm.
Others denounced the IML’s provision as “vindictive and petty”and “premised on a profound and consequential misunderstanding of how sex crimes against minors are usually perpetrated.”This criticism of the passport identifier as policy is valid and important.But this Note argues further that the passport identifier is unconstitutional compelled speech. The government cannot validly claim that the passport identifier is owed the protection that courts normally afford to government speech. By conscripting passport-bearing Americans into warning others about their own prior convictions on the United States’ behalf, the government has run afoul-of the Constitution.The compelled speech doctrine protects passport holders who suffer this egregious violation to their speaker autonomy, particularly in light of the serious—even deadly—ramifications of the factual speech the passport identifier compels.
READ THE FULL LAW REVIEW ARTICLE
The only way that the passport identifier could even approach being Constitutional is if it applies to all offenders and not just sex offenders.
This is good I guess. We just need the law tested.
The biggest issue I saw with the document is so much that they argued to remove the sex offender label from the written passport as much as they recommended to “move it” as they recommended embedding the information in the RFID tag in the passport. I don’t see this really as being very helpful because IML will still enforce the no-travel policy once the passport is scanned. IML just needs to be scrapped IMHO, otherwise we effectively will be trapped in this country.
Most curious. The compelled speech may also apply to those who have their Drivers License branded? Just a thought.
100% That case is a GREAT case. it’s just not been brought.
That case HAS been brought within our Federal circuit, no?
https://floridaactioncommittee.org/reason-sex-offenders-are-not-second-class-citizens-says-judge-while-nixing-alabama-rules-on-first-amendment-grounds/
Correct – this is in the 11th Circuit, which is why I suggested that the driver’s license brand would be an EXCELLENT case to bring.
The case cited FL’s license scheme as one that COULD pass constitutional muster, because it only called out a subclass (“sexual predator”) and for all others was less explicit than AL (branded with a code only).
While FL license branding deserves challenge, our lawyers will need to be cautious about cases such as this one!
So are they going to try and do something about it or is it just another article to pacify us?
I don’t think they’re looking to pacify anyone. They want to be cited.
Question?
Does IML continue to EXIST on a Registrant , once the Registrant has been removed from the Registry of a Jurisdiction? As you know some Jurisdictions release Registrants after they have completed ‘their double jeopardy punishment’
There seems to be different answers surrounding this!
Anyone with additional info, please chime in!
Thank you
RTAG has insight into that question, I believe.
When you’re off the registry, I don’t think IML applies anymore. My “proof” of this is that I updated my passport and it was not stamped with whatever the offender stamp is. My first passport wasn’t stamped either but I got it before IML was signed.
You are not correct, Maestro. Many people STILL on the registry don’t have the brand.
See: https://floridaactioncommittee.org/a-deeper-dive-into-iml/ for more information
IML is Federal. So yes. Regardless of your status in the State you live in you will continue to be in the Federal listing unless you’re ever case has been dismissed through the courts.
What Federal listing? Now I am concerned.
There is no actual “National Registry” the National Registry just pulls information from the States.
I was under the impression that SORNA was at the State level and SORA was Federal…my mistake?
When you’re off the state registry, you’re also off the federal registry. I searched my name and it appears nowhere on any registry since I’ve been off of it. And my passport was not branded. I updated it a year after being off the registry. I also never got a notice that I had to get my previous passport stamped with the notice when I was on the registry. This is all very confusing, obviously.
Unless youre in florida. Im off my homestate but now on this for just being here. How fair is that????
It’s not fair. And people have to stop allowing it to happen. You did your required time. This is a free country not a dictatorship. This madness of making people re-register needs a lot of you guys to pull together in a lawsuit.
If Ron Book moved to another state that had different laws about DUI, will they take away his license after he’s already served his punishment in his home state? My guess is “no”. So they same should apply to anything else (which it does – except sex offenses). Is anyone challenging this insanity?
@Maestro, was your adjudication withheld (was your case even in Florida)? Mine, in Florida was withheld. I haven’t renewed my passport yet, but I’m curious whether it will get branded with the notification of sex offense, since I wasn’t “convicted”, since that specific wording is used in the IML text.
“This person was convicted of a sexual offense against minors” is, I think the approximate wording of the passport brand.
Obv they can’t well justify stating that regarding someone who has not in fact been convicted.
In any case, I’m not aware that renewing, in and of itself, has ever triggered the branding.
I can tell you this. I was not on probation, did not commit a crime in florida and my crime was in the state of Wisconsin. when I traveled to the philippines I was NOT ALLOWED IN to marry a lady I had known for over 10 years. Before I left the US I had to fill out a HLS document telling them where I was going where I would be staying and for how long. I contacted the judicial department 5 times to ensure I was NOT on their black list. When I arrived they detained me, put me on their black list threatened me if I would return I would be incarcerated, put on a plane the next day to return to the US. The US notifies the Judicial department of your arrival date time and flight number. My travel with a legal passport was in 2016. I went there to marry the woman.
For purposes of re-election, lawmakers are measured by how many bills they introduce, how many pass and how they voted on the bills put forth. The more ambiguous legislation is, the bigger the “dance floor” meaning the law can intentionally go anywhere and confirm or deny any thing. Trampling the Constitution is not an issue because unless someone has the money and time to challenge the law, it stands as the law of the land without regard to its constitutionality.
Lawmakers swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the US. In this time of tearing down statues, maybe its time for a few of the “statues” that wrote this legislation to be targeted for removal from office next time the are up for re-election. How insane is it to re-elect people who swore an oath, wrap themselves in self-righteous robes then use their office to violate the oath. Organize and target for removal. First the low hanging fruit then move up the line maybe even eventually removing Lauren Book
None of this is about protection or the greater good, it is about punishment
Herein stands the elephant in the room. Before any law is enacted, there has to be a constitutional check. Without this safeguard, we will continue to have unconstitutional laws passed against us. The government has gotten away with this for so long, they are now using it on the general public because they know they can get away with it.
“Then they came for the Sex Offenders, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Sex Offender.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
I’m off the Virginia registry where the offense took place 20 years ago but I am on the Florida registry because I moved here to retire and help my parents.
What transpired that caused you to get put on the FL registry? How did that happen?
I was on probation when I moved to Florida from Virginia. I had to get permission to leave Virginia and have my probation moved to Florida. That was the signal to put me on the Florida registry. My probation was terminated eleven years early but not my name on the Florida registry. Once your name is on the Florida registry it’s ‘buried in concrete’ there…as you know.
Bad idea to move while still on probation though. But thank you for your answer. Appreciated.
I wanted to move to NYC from CT while I was on probation but then decided against it because I didn’t want to go from one nasty probation officer in my home state to a potentially nastier probation officer in a state that is all new to me (as a resident at least).
At the time probation in Florida was the least of my concern. My parents needed my help. Three months after I got here my dad passed away. Mom wanted to stay in her home so I went ahead and had my retirement home built in Port St. John. During that time I was arrested for saying “Good morning ” to my neighbor’s son in broad daylight on a neighborhood sidewalk…a neighborhood ‘biddy’ reported it. The boy’s parents supported me. Mom almost had to move into a nursing home because I was gone temporarily and could not help her with her home. The judge shook his head at hearing my “massive failure” and let me come home. My sister had to come from California to provide temp help. Finally I was back on scene and Mom was safe in her home for a while. Her doctor told me, though, that it was not safe for her to live by herself so I moved her into assisted living where she kept her own furniture, had her meals all provided, and a nurse available 24/7. In 2013 she joined Dad. My daughter moved to Florida and lived into Mom’s home for a while until her immaturity and “friends” required me to move her out. She’s making it OK now and has done a lot of growing up. My son lived with me while he was technical director at East Coast Christian Center and before he got married and moved to Orlando.
I try to make the best out of situations and over all am glad I moved to Florida. I have made lots of friends. I let my wife’s death get me off track for a few years but God and many Christian brothers and sisters have made restoration possible. I have been blessed. My vault is in place in Virginia Beach…next to my wife…and one day I will join her. My goal…encourage God and my wife to smile down on me and say,”Well done my good and faithful servant…and husband.”
Ok, so i did three days of travel to nyc: went to vcso and submitted my info: again told i dont need to as id be back on the third day. I asked to have it they did. Flew out. Local Pd for some reason comes out to my home and harasses my wife as to why im not home. She states im traveling and has the fdle flyer that i reported it. They say i didnt tell them. (the local pd) And theyll be back the day after i arrive. Officer shows up and questions why i was in nyc. I stated i reported the travel To vcso. Again he asked why i went i respectfully declined to answer. He made me sign that weird piece of paper with their procedures on how to verify an address and then does something i NEVER Saw. He asks for my drivers license again and takes a picture of it on his bodycam. I dont know who else i need to tell of my travel but the few times they come im either away or not at the house and they continue to freak out my wife and children. I havent been on any paper in 20 years. No anything (until i come to florida 5 years ago and theybtried to get me on a failure but they had to file a no info when they realized my circumstance) but ended up on the list via a corrections captain that put me on the day i was brought in. So you see, if theres this much confusion and disconnect on a LOCAL level imagine anything larger…..
JM – if you’re not on paper you DO NOT need to tell your local PD why you traveled. It’s none of their business.
FAC what does being on paper have to do with it? Are you EVER required to tell local PD such a thing?
For travel < 3 days, registrants and their family members are not required to tell local PD ANYTHING about registrants’ whereabouts, amirite? Would they be better off telling them, “sorry, I don’t answer questions like that.”
Probation officer would be a different story, I know, bad that did not appear to be an issue here.
You are required to report the establishment of a transient, temporary or permanent residence (3 or more days) to the sheriff’s office. If the police come to your door to do an address verification and ask why you went to wherever (that you have reported) and you are not on probation, you don’t have to tell them why.
Generally, on probation you must get permission to travel and your PO can inquire why you went.
On probation you are not required to tell local PD anything during their address checks, unless instructed to do so by probation officer. Correct?
Its pretty rampant and constant. And they keep insisting to my wife that i need to tell them yet i dont know who else to tell! When they tell me to be there when they come back They call in my driv license, take a picture of it check for warrants and make me sign. They tell her that theyll be back lets say sunday and i need to be there. Seems like a little more than an address check.
Nope – you don’t need to be there. Call their supervisor and let them know they are doing that.
Hira a lawyer. There are cases in FL similar where we are winning and being removed from the FL registry
Whats the legal definition of “compelled speech”