My new Bulwark piece: “He does not say what criminal law he thinks they have broken, despite the plain current legality under current law of operating refineries, at-pump gas sales and so forth. But note that Sanders’ language is not forward-looking — it’s retrospective. He’s not just talking about passing some new law and then arresting executives who proceed to violate it. He is talking about prosecuting past lawful behavior….
“America needs a politics with fewer authoritarian impulses, not more.”
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Jailing people for things that were legal at the time is NOT the rule of law, it is dictatorship. Bernie is scary, in spite of his “lovable” image (according to Bernie bros).
“He is talking about prosecuting past lawful behavior….”
Correct me on where I’m wrong, but isn’t this already the case in re toxic waste? At one point in the distant past, near as I can tell, it was legal to just pour this nasty stuff out….where ever. (Example Hudson River PCB’s) And then, the Superfund law, etc was passed and made this retroactively illegal and asserted liability, both civil and possibly criminal, for past actions that weren’t previously prohibited.
I have a difficult time wrapping my head around retroactive liability and the clear and plain prohibition in the Constitution of ex post facto law.