Thread: California DOES the Right thing ----- Wow, what a shock

Judge tosses laws restricting recruiters

Without fanfare, a federal judge in Oakland on Thursday threw out voter-approved laws in two Northern California cities barring military recruiters from contacting minors.

U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong ruled that laws passed in the Humboldt County cities of Arcata and Eureka in November were unconstitutional and invalid.

The finding was not unexpected by proponents of the laws, which passed with 73 percent of the vote in Arcata and 57 percent in Eureka. The federal government quickly sued to overturn the laws, which have been stayed ever since.

But Dave Meserve, the former Arcata councilman behind the laws, said he was disappointed that the judge ruled without hearing arguments on the case. Armstrong ruled on filed pleadings after a hearing scheduled this month was canceled.

"She doesn't respond to any of our arguments in any way," he said. "The order reads like a restatement of the government's case."

Department of Justice spokesman Charles Miller said "We are pleased with the court's ruling."

Eileen Lainez, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, declined tocomment on the suit but said, "It is important for recruiters to provide information to youth and their parents."

The Arcata and Eureka laws join a long list of failed attempts to restrict military recruiting.

Opponents of recruiting have tried to keep recruiters off college campuses nationwide. Berkeley issued and then rescinded a letter calling Marine recruiters "unwelcome intruders."

And the San Francisco school board in 2006 killed the local Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps, which some members saw as a recruiting tool, launching a three-year battle that ended last month with JROTC back in place.

The Arcata and Eureka laws represented a new tactic that experts said appeared to have been the first of its kind in America: a counter-recruitment law passed not by a handful of elected activists, but by a plurality of voters.

Many voters in Arcata and Eureka who supported the measures saw the laws not as anti-military, but as an expression of a community's right to set its own rules - particularly relating to children.

Opponents said the laws were unpatriotic, pointlessly quixotic, and imposed a government regulation on a domain that would be better handled by parents.

The laws made it illegal to contact anyone under the age of 18 to recruit that person into the military or promote future enlistment. Minors could still initiate contact with recruiters if they chose.

"The judge said that the question of military recruitment is a subject which must be regulated by the federal government and may not be regulated by states and localities," said Stanford Law School Senior Lecturer Allen Weiner, who read the opinion but did not take part in the case.

Under the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, federal laws trump state laws on issues the federal government is responsible for, like foreign affairs and national defense.

The cities tried to head off that finding by arguing that the United States is party to international treaties prohibiting the recruiting of children under 17. The treaties, the cities argue, hold equal standing to the supremacy clause, so recruitment aimed at children under 17 - such as posters or recruiter calls - is unconstitutional.

Armstrong did not address that argument. Brad Yamauchi, a San Francisco attorney who represented Arcata pro bono, said the reason she didn't may have been because the treaty addresses recruitment of children under age 17, but the laws in Arcata and Eureka barred recruiting anybody under 18.

Recruits must be 18 to enlist in the U.S. military, or 17 with parental permission, although contact with recruiters may begin earlier.

If the cities choose to appeal or draft a new law, Yamauchi said, they might focus on the 17-and-under crowd. But they would still need to solve other constitutional concerns raised by Armstrong - a task he said will be difficult at best.

But Yamauchi said an appeal might still be worth pursuing.

"Everything has to be done to put this pressure (on policymakers), and having an appeal could be part of that pressure," he said. Arcata City Attorney Nancy Diamond said the city has made no decision on whether to pursue an appeal.

But Meserve said that no matter what, the effort was worthwhile.

"Whatever the outcome, I think it's been very positive," he said. "It has opened people's eyes across the country to the fact that recruiters target kids."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 189PQJ.DTL

I wonder what is going to happen when Nobumer makes us volunteer in his community corps.

Doesn't anyone else see the wrong these courts are doing in overturning the VOTES OF THE PEOPLE?

These recruiters have no business targeting kids and these cities should have the right to ban this activity if the majority of LEGAL voters voted for it. This is the same underhanded, undermining tactic that was used to stop Prop. 187 into becoming law...a bunch of bought and paid for judges "legislating from the bench." THAT's AGAINST OUR CONSTITUTION and the people of California had better quit allowing this kind of overturning the votes of the majority to happen without saying a word!

Fine, ban the recruiters, stop government financial support. Can't have it both ways. There is NO greater service then service to your country.

Originally Posted by USAFVeteran

Fine, ban the recruiters, stop government financial support. Can't have it both ways. There is NO greater service then service to your country.

Service to this country or service to the Federal Reserve, its cronies and a host of off shore bankers?

American children should be off limits to recruiters, who have been caught time after time, blatantly LYING to these kids about the "benefits" they will receive if they sign up. This isn't the way the USA military USED to behave. It has become a sham. OUR verterans and their families are treated worse than illegal aliens in this country, especially our WOUNDED VETS. There's something not quite right here if you haven't noticed.

If an American town votes to ban recruiters on their school campuses, then that should be upheld by our courts AND respected.

I agree with your comments about the despicable way our vets (especially the injured ones) are treated.

Does anyone else see it as just a little strange that cities, such as SF, are concerned about what children are being exposed to when it comes to military recruiters?

These are cities which have had no difficulty whatsoever in exposing children to a multitude of dangers which go hand in hand with their sanctuary policies regarding illegal aliens, exposing them to the corrupt, criminal and immoral conduct of their public officials who are never so much as criticized, let alone punished, but are elevated to near celebrity status and cheered on.

These are cities which have exposed children to the public use of drugs and alcohol, deviant lifestyles, school curriculums beginning at the pre-school level introducing them to the subjects of homosexuality, transgenderism, transsexuality, and other "alternative lifestyles".

From the day they are born,these children have been exposed to people like Nancy Pelosi and her ilk promoting and encouraging anti American ideologies, the concepts of socialism, communism, marxism, the blatant disrespect and disregard for the rule of law, etc. and who are openly working to ensure the fall of the United States as a sovereign country.


I just find it somewhat laughable that cities like these would so concerned about what minor children are being exposed to, that's all.

Excellent post AZWreath! Heck, if a military recruiter calls your child and he/she isn't interested in military service, just say so. What's the problem, here?

Originally Posted by USAFVeteran

Excellent post AZWreath! Heck, if a military recruiter calls your child and he/she isn't interested in military service, just say so. What's the problem, here?

Thank you.

As for the problem.....I'll take "People Who Should Not Be Allowed To Breed" for $1,000 Alex.

Recruiters don't stop at, "Not interested." They will hound, stalk and even harass teenagers. There are high stakes and high stresses placed upon recruiters to recruit.