SCOTUS Agrees to hear Sex Offense Case on Applying SORNA Retroactively

Weekly Update 2018-03-06

Dear Members and Advocates,

The Supreme Court of the United States will be considering a “sex offender case” in it’s upcoming session. The case is Gundy v. United States and the essential decision the Court is being asked to make is whether the Federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) can be applied retroactively, as written.

SORNA, which was passed in 2006 as part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, established a comprehensive national sex offender registration system. It required every State to maintain a registry and prescribed the information those States were required to collect and the means of public notification of that information.

The exciting news is that the SCOTUS has elected to take on a “sex offender case”. With their recent decisions to not grant certiorari (not consider) the two sex offender cases that came before it recently, it seemed they were shying away from the delicate issue. This time they are not.

The not-so-exciting news is that relief would only come to those whose offenses pre-date SORNA and each state has their own State registry, some (such as Florida) exceed federal requirements (impose harsher restrictions than SORNA). Still, anytime there’s an opportunity to chip away at the registry, it’s a good thing and any constitutional challenge to the sex offender registry, if successful, creates good precedent for future challenges.

So what is Gundy all about? The nondelegation doctrine, is a legal theory that one branch of government must not authorize another entity to exercise the power or function which it is constitutionally authorized to exercise itself. As it is applied in this case, when Congress enacted SORNA they didn’t specify whether it was to apply to sex offenders convicted BEFORE the law’s passage or only to those convicted AFTER. Instead of Congress specifying, they gave the attorney general the authority to determine whether it should be applied retroactively, and he did!

The nondelegation doctrine is not a commonly used legal principal, but apparently the Supreme Court found the argument compelling enough to take a closer look. They will be hearing the case late this year. Definitely something to look forward to.

On the local front; we want to sincerely thank all of you who have been calling, writing and emailing the Florida Legislators in opposition to SB 1226 and HB 1301. It is on the special calendar and may go to a vote on Thursday March 8.   WE HAVE ONE MORE DAY TO LET OUR VOICES BE HEARD.  Ask some hard questions like: What benefit does this law have to public safety? How will the state cover additional costs and manpower for Sheriff, Probation and DMV offices?  Won’t this place added burden on the courts?  Have you considered additional beds in jails/prisons, or the additional cost to the state for the electronic monitoring?  AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE?  This bill is not well-thought out and will be impossible for law-abiding citizens to comply. There is no rational reason for this Bill…VOTE NO.

This bill would change the IN-PERSON registration requirement to 3 days (from 5) and impose minimum mandatory sentences for registration violations and including GPS monitoring as a required sanction. We are not holding out much hope that the politicians will have the courage to go against this stupidity – especially when the sponsor is the daughter of one of their main campaign contributors, but we are educating the legislators and creating a record of objections which can help in subsequent litigation, should it become necessary. If the courts didn’t believe registration requirements were “punitive” before – when you stack on mandatory minimum sentences for technical violations and add GPS monitoring, it becomes even more difficult to defend the position that this is not punishment.

The effort also underscores the need for our organization to have better representation in Tallahassee. We need bodies who can show up to these committee meetings and speak out. Even if someone stands there and reads FAC’s prepared statement, it will suffice! When these bills come before a committee meeting and nobody is there to oppose it… it passes.

In prior years, our president has travelled to Tallahassee to spend virtually the entire legislative session lobbying for us. Unfortunately, travel and hotels are costly. With the importance of our current litigation, the budgetary demands are tight. Also, In a year like this one, where gun control issues preempted other matters, planning is impossible. For that reason, we need a team in or around our State Capital who can step in and show up to represent FAC and our state’s registrants. If you are interested in participating, please contact us so that we can start planning and preparing our team.

Sincerely,

The Florida Action Committee

SAVE THE DATE: Tampa Meet and Greet on Wed March 27th from 6-8pm For details, Email  membership@floridaactioncommittee.org or leave message at (833) 2-REPEAL [833-273-7325].

REMINDER: New Member Orientation call this Thursday March 8th at 8pm.  All callers are welcome.

SOME HEADLINES FROM THIS WEEK

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