hardlyworking
11-05-2013, 3:18 PM
Federal chemical weapons charges brought against a woman for throwing household chemicals at another woman who was sleeping with her husband. At issue, the anti-Chemical Weapons Treaty being applied to ordinary citizens doing ordinary crimes against each other.
At oral arguments today General Verrilli appears to be US council, Paul Clement is representing the woman's side, comedy ensues!
13 JUSTICE BREYER: No, no. These are real
14 cases, by the way. The poison potato was in fact -*
15 GENERAL VERRILLI: The vinegar and the
16 goldfish is not a real case, and I would submit that de
17 minimis non curat lex.
18 JUSTICE ALITO: They're not real -- they're
19 not real cases because you haven't prosecuted them yet.
20 (Laughter.)
21 JUSTICE ALITO: If you told ordinary people
22 that you were going to prosecute Ms. Bond for using a
23 chemical weapon, they would be flabbergasted. It's -*
24 it -- it's so far outside of the ordinary meaning of the
25 word.
1 JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: If her child had died -*
2 JUSTICE ALITO: This statute has an
3 enormous -- an enormous breadth, anything that can cause
4 death or injury to a person or an animal. Would it
5 shock you if I told you that a few days ago my wife and
6 I distributed toxic chemicals to a great number of
7 children?
8 (Laughter.)
9 GENERAL VERRILLI: Your Honor, I understand
10 the point.
11 JUSTICE ALITO: On Halloween we gave them
12 chocolate bars. Chocolate is poison to dogs, so it's a
13 toxic chemical under the chemical weapons -*
14 GENERAL VERRILLI: I think de minimis non
15 curat lex would take care of that, but this -- there is
16 serious -- this is -*
17 JUSTICE BREYER: There's chocolate all over
18 the place.
19 (Laughter.)
20 JUSTICE SCALIA: Do horses eat potatoes? I
21 didn't know horses ate potatoes.
22 GENERAL VERRILLI: This is serious business.
Does this apply to 2A? I'm not sure, but if the Small Arms Treaty gets approved by the Senate, well, we already know Fed DOJ is willing to prosecute international treaties against ordinary citizens... something like this could be in our future.
At oral arguments today General Verrilli appears to be US council, Paul Clement is representing the woman's side, comedy ensues!
13 JUSTICE BREYER: No, no. These are real
14 cases, by the way. The poison potato was in fact -*
15 GENERAL VERRILLI: The vinegar and the
16 goldfish is not a real case, and I would submit that de
17 minimis non curat lex.
18 JUSTICE ALITO: They're not real -- they're
19 not real cases because you haven't prosecuted them yet.
20 (Laughter.)
21 JUSTICE ALITO: If you told ordinary people
22 that you were going to prosecute Ms. Bond for using a
23 chemical weapon, they would be flabbergasted. It's -*
24 it -- it's so far outside of the ordinary meaning of the
25 word.
1 JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: If her child had died -*
2 JUSTICE ALITO: This statute has an
3 enormous -- an enormous breadth, anything that can cause
4 death or injury to a person or an animal. Would it
5 shock you if I told you that a few days ago my wife and
6 I distributed toxic chemicals to a great number of
7 children?
8 (Laughter.)
9 GENERAL VERRILLI: Your Honor, I understand
10 the point.
11 JUSTICE ALITO: On Halloween we gave them
12 chocolate bars. Chocolate is poison to dogs, so it's a
13 toxic chemical under the chemical weapons -*
14 GENERAL VERRILLI: I think de minimis non
15 curat lex would take care of that, but this -- there is
16 serious -- this is -*
17 JUSTICE BREYER: There's chocolate all over
18 the place.
19 (Laughter.)
20 JUSTICE SCALIA: Do horses eat potatoes? I
21 didn't know horses ate potatoes.
22 GENERAL VERRILLI: This is serious business.
Does this apply to 2A? I'm not sure, but if the Small Arms Treaty gets approved by the Senate, well, we already know Fed DOJ is willing to prosecute international treaties against ordinary citizens... something like this could be in our future.