If You're Stupid, the Law Doesn't Apply

The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that if you are so stupid that you can't understand the law, then you can't be prosecuted for breaking it. At least that's the essense of it.

Undocumented workers who use a fake ID cannot be prosecuted for identity theft unless they "knowingly and unlawfully" use another person's identity. The plaintiff, a Mexican citizen, initially used a fake ID and fake Social Security number (which did not belong to anyone) to get a job. Apparently, that was OK and broke no laws. Six years later he "came clean" and offered his real name and forged Social Security and alien registration cards — documents that bore numbers that happened to be assigned to other people. He was prosecuted for identity theft.

He pled guilty to a number of offenses, but contested the identity theft charge because he had no way of knowing those numbers belonged to someone else. Duh! And the Supreme Court agreed! Not guilty.

"As for the immigrants rounded up in Iowa a year ago, an interpreter assigned to their hearings testified that most of the immigrants did not know that the numbers they used belonged to other people. Indeed, the immigrants generally did not know what a Social Security card was."

It really pays to be stupid if you are a crook and have a slick lawyer! It's time that our stupid Congressmen started writing laws that work. And while they are at it, they can re-authorize E-Verify so employers can catch phoney Social Security numbers in the first place.

This country is deteriorating rapidly.