Many things are behind paywalls, or something similar, these days.
Websites charge for access, entertainment venues charge ticket prices, some restaurants or other food enterprises have a cover charge just to get in.
But justice in America shouldn’t have that, according to a case fought by the Institute for Justice.
That organization reported it has successfully obtained an order from Stow Municipal Court that the paywall for justice for motorists there – a fee of $100 – has been suspended.
“We are pleased that the Stow Municipal Court has suspended its unconstitutional $100 fee for the right to contest a traffic violation,” said IJ Litigation Fellow Bobbi Taylor. “We hope that this ‘suspension’ will become a permanent protection of the constitutional right to due process.”
At issue was a charge for motorists who were passing through the village of Peninsula and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park of $100 to challenge a speeding ticket.
The IJ last month warned officials there their moneymaking scheme was violating motorists’ constitutional rights of due process.
“Since the late spring of 2023, Peninsula police officers have used handheld speed cameras to issue thousands of speeding tickets, producing hundreds of thousands of dollars in income for the tiny village. Worse yet, drivers who chose to contest their ticket were forced to pay a $100 fee to the Stow Municipal Court. That fee was unconstitutional because it violated Americans’ right to due process, which requires the government to provide a meaningful hearing before taking an individual’s property,” the IJ reported.
The problem has been resolved, for now, in the Stow Municipal Court, the IJ said, but officials in the village of Peninsula still are being asked to “reassess” their overall programs.
“A tiny village of just 536 people, Peninsula has issued 8,900 tickets since April, providing $1.3 million in revenue. These staggering numbers raise concern that the village’s ticketing is nothing more than a policing for profit scheme,” the IJ reported.
It reported various courts have ruled that such revenue generation, especially at the levels seen in Peninsula, raises serious constitutional concerns. Specifically, courts worry law enforcement could be enforcing the law in the name of profit, not public safety.
IMPORTANT NOTE TO WND READERS: America – long the freest, most prosperous, powerful, altruistic and Christian nation on earth – is on the brink of destruction. Every decent and aware American adult knows this. The evidence is everywhere.
Democrat politicians today overwhelmingly favor late-term abortion up to the very moment of birth – formerly known as “infanticide.” They encourage children too young to drive or vote to have their breasts and/or sex organs amputated in pursuit of a “gender transition” that is both delusional and impossible, and which leads to staggering rates of depression and suicide. They have not just allowed, but ENGINEERED, a full-scale foreign invasion of America across her southern border.
Their standard bearer, President Joe Biden – a senile, pathologically dishonest and epically corrupt career political hack – is destroying America’s economy, energy sector, military, law enforcement, election integrity, national security, Constitution and overall national wellbeing as rapidly as possible. At the same time, Team Biden demonizes and, increasingly, IMPRISONS critics as “violent extremists,” “domestic terrorists,” “white supremacists” and “insurrectionists.” Indeed, they’re currently engaged in an obviously corrupt multi-front legal war against Biden’s chief political rival, Donald J. Trump, in an attempt to send the 45th president of the United States to prison for the rest of his life.
None of this constitutes “politics” in any conventional or traditional American sense. Rather, it is all darkly spiritual. The greatest nation on earth is in the throes of a full-blown spiritual war between good and evil.
The big question, then, is WHAT CAN BE DONE TO SAVE AMERICA? Fortunately, real answers and uncommon wisdom are showcased in the December issue of WND’s critically acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine, “CAN AMERICA BE SAVED? The world’s freest, most Christian nation is on the brink of destruction.”
In this very special issue, readers will experience the best and deepest thoughts and strategies on how to restore America to her former goodness and greatness, from some of the nation’s most respected analysts – everyone from Tucker Carlson to Dennis Prager to Victor Davis Hanson to Newt Gingrich and many more.
WHISTLEBLOWER is available in both the popular print edition and a state-of-the-art digital version, either single issues or discounted annual subscriptions.
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