Thread: LI NY: Judge Legislates FOR Spitzers License Plan!

JUDGE LIOTTI LEGISLATES

December 26, 2007 -- Gov. Spitzer may have ditched his disastrous plan to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens, but Long Island Judge Thomas Liotti isn't giving up so easily.

Unfortunately for Liotti, his blatant judicial activism may only remind New Yorkers what was so troubling about Spitzer's license scheme to begin with.

Liotti, a village justice in Westbury, last week declared New York's licensing restrictions unconstitutional as he dismissed charges against a presumably illegal alien for driving without a license.

His rationale? Illegal immigrants "are driving without licenses anyway, and will continue to do so," he says. "If they are required to pass our driving tests, we will at least promote safety on our highways."

He goes on to lament America's history of racism and post-9/11 "xenophobia."

What this has to do with the law is never made clear, but Liotti telegraphs his true motives well: "Gov. Spitzer," he says in a press release, "had it right."

Liotti, of course, is entitled to his opinion - as a private citizen.

But when judges let their politics determine which laws they choose to enforce, they undermine respect for all law.

Indeed - lest New Yorkers forget - the same could be said for Spitzer's license proposal in the first place. It doesn't take a cold-hearted "xenophobe" to recognize the profound confusion injected into America's immigration laws when folks like Spitzer and Liotti go out of their way to encourage those who break them.

The gov ultimately backed down, of course - after months of public outrage and plummeting poll numbers.

In Justice Liotti's case, one can only hope that a sound-minded appeals court will do its duty and reverse the decision.

But then again, this is New York.

You never know.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12262007/po ... 582653.htm
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Why is 'The Rule of Law' so hard to understand for these judges?