[PW] Re: Prohibition....

[Michael J. Lowrey]

On 11/8/06, Stan Greene <rabbi.stan at beth-tfilah.org> wrote:
>     > On 11/7/06, sfinemel at ca.rr.com wrote:
>     > >  Prohibition....when alcohol went to illegal and then
>     > > back to legal.....what happened to the bootleggers
>     > > who were in jail?  Were they set free since the law
>     > > changed?
>
> To which, on Tue, 7 Nov 2006 "Michael J. Lowrey"
> <orangemike at gmail.com> had replied:
>
>     > Nope. They'd still broken the law.
>
> Are you sure of this? I'm not so sure of this. It might bear some research. Do you have citations to support your statement?
>
> The reason I ask is repeal of prohibition was NOT an ex post facto law, a law which criminalizes activity prior to its enactment, which would be prohibited under Article I, section 9, clause 3 and section 10, clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution. Were it an ex post facto law, then yes, its provisions could not be retroactive (with certain exceptions).
>
> However, the REPEAL of prohibition (the XXI-st amendment) was a REPEAL of a prior amendment (the XVIII-th) to the Constitution of the United States, making the XVIII-th amendment null and void. The XXI-st amendment, therefore was not a new law.

Nope. The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th; it did not make the 18th
null and void. There is a considerable difference. (Read the wikipedia
article on void (law) [which I have edited in the past]. The repeal of
a statute does not render convictions under the prior statute void
unless the repeal bill specifies that such is the case. The Volstead
Act was a valid and enforceable statute, and its prote void unless the
repeal bill specifies that such is the case. The Volstead Act was a
valid and enforceable statute, and its provisions were equally valid.

There may have been "wet" politicians who chose to exercise their
powers of executive clemency to let some prisoners go; but the simple
passage of the 21st Amendment would have had no such effect.
(Remember, also, that in many cases the bootleggers combined their
violation of the Volstead Act with such charming sidelines and
ancillary activities as murder, bribery, armed robbery, coercion,
arson and the like.)

-- 
Michael J. "Orange Mike" Lowrey
in Milwaukee, where Repeal was a municipal holiday