Re: Drivers License (Rant)
Drivers license and vehicle registration only apply to commercial drivers transporting upon public hiways and vehicles being used for commercial transport of cargo or people for hire. All courts at all levels where this has come up have ruled that the personal use of public hiways to transport yourself, you vehicle, and your personal property are constitutionally protected, i.e you do not need a drvs lic or veh reg. One of the last court rulings on this (1957 or 1958) said basically the access and use of public roads for personal means was paramount to preserving the right to the pursuit of happiness. The pursuit of happiness is a constitutionally protected right.<br /><br />The requirement of a drv lic and veh reg was to generate revenue via a tax on commerce. All of that changed in 1958 when California created a privilege to drive. This allowed the state to generate revenue (tax) everyone and every vehicle. All the other states saw the light and quickly followed suit. Although challenged, it had been upheld all the way to the Supreme Court, which will not hear the issue. The Supreme Court has a policy of not hearing any cases based on unconstitutional law if the unconstitutional law applies to everyone equally unconstitutionally. The SC will hear cases regarding unconstitutional law if the law creates classes of people, i.e. only white people must have drv lic
unless the unconstitutional law is well based in a safety issue.<br /><br />Im not sure but I think driving w/o veh reg is an infraction and drving w/o a lic is a misdemeanor in California. Being charged with an infraction means you are accused of a crime but it isnt serious enough that there is a need to preserve your constitutionally protected rights as an accused criminal, i.e. you dont have the right to an atty or a trial by jury, or even to come before a real judge, etc. I recently heard there is a guy in New Mexico that has figured out how to walk thru all of the loop holes of an infraction. Supposedly, he has had something like 200 out of 200 traffic infractions dismissed because due process was not followed. Due process does apply to infractions as well as misdemeanor and felonies. After signing a ticket you must be arraigned within 48hrs. He claims without a timely arraignment there can be no hearing for the alleged infraction. So far, the NM courts have gone along with him. Ironically, if you refuse to sign a ticket the cop will haul you off to jail and you WILL be arraigned within 48hrs.<br /><br />In California, a third conviction for the same misdemeanor automatically escalates to a felony. So the third time you get popped for driving w/o a lic it is a felony. And the third conviction for the same felony has an automatic sentence of life in prison (3 strikes law). Its amazing to me that we have arrived at a place where exercising a constitutionally protected right can get you life in prison. Same for people that are behind in their child support payments. For every month that a person is behind, it is a potential misdemeanor. Rack up enough months of being behind in your payments and you face the potential of life in prison. People that cannot afford excessively burdensome support payments are leaving the state. I have met people that will never be able to earn enough money in their lifetime to pay the arrears and the interest on their support payments. Oh, and people that are behind in their support payments have their driving privilege revoked. Their DMV record is tagged so if they move to another state they cant get a dvr lic there, either. And their passport is revoked, too. They basically become a sub-class of people with their right to travel and move above freely restricted. I read that some people behind in their support payments are applying for asylum at foreign embassies. Dont know if it is granted. Amazing, productive, law-biding American citizens need to seek asylum in foreign countries.<br /><br />Fwiw, a few months ago Wash state's Supreme Court struck down the suspension of dvr's lic for unpaid tix because it violated due process. In that case, the drvr had no way to appeal the DA's decision to suspend the lic, and it was possible for the DA's office to err and suspend the wrong lic.
