[Hoot Gibson]

You mention hate crimes. Hate crimes are another example of the absolute insanity of present day America. Hate crimes provide that if one commits a crime against certain protected minorities, he/she is subject to a harsher penalty.

I don't think it takes a legal scholar to see the unconstitutionality of this practice. According to the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause, all are entitled to the equal protection of the law. Since that is allegedly the case, why would one be subjected to a more serious penalty for hitting a black in the head with an iron pipe than he would be if he hit a mere white in the head with the same iron pipe?

It appears that, in the effort to undue all those alleged dastardly prejudices that the majority has, we must declare that, although all heads are somewhat equal, minority heads are superior to majority heads.

Jay, Rutledge, Ellsworth, and Marshall (our first four chief justices) would find all this shameful and dangerous. They would, of course, be correct.

I absolutely agree, Harry. I can see no way to justify hate crime laws that mete out unequal justice based on one's religion, skin color, or sexual preference - or laws that give the federal government a shot at prosecuting people who have been found not guilty of the same crime in a fair trial.