[atlaw]

You seem to be construing the "basic rights" language as a list of entitlements that cannot be regulated.

Are you saying that other statutory or common law rules are rendered unenforceable to the extent that they affect or govern the enumerated "basic rights" (i.e., "to enjoy and defend life and liberty, to pursue happiness, to be rewarded for industry, and to acquire, possess and protect property")?

[EternalVigilance]

You seem to be construing the "basic rights" language as a list of entitlements that cannot be regulated. Are you saying that other statutory or common law rules are rendered unenforceable to the extent that they affect or govern the enumerated "basic rights" (i.e., "to enjoy and defend life and liberty, to pursue happiness, to be rewarded for industry, and to acquire, possess and protect property")?

I'm saying that it doesn't take a lawyer to understand that the Constitution in clear and unmistakable language precludes the government or an individual from taking the life of a citizen short of a conviction of a capital crime.

In fact, it would seem that most attorneys now have had their minds so clouded by petty legalisms that it seems to preclude them from understanding such a basic fact.

Proverbally, our legal minds would seem to have perfected straining our gnats while swallowing camels.

[EternalVigilance]

You seem to be construing the "basic rights" language as a list of entitlements that cannot be regulated. Are you saying that other statutory or common law rules are rendered unenforceable to the extent that they affect or govern the enumerated "basic rights" (i.e., "to enjoy and defend life and liberty, to pursue happiness, to be rewarded for industry, and to acquire, possess and protect property")?

I'm saying that it doesn't take a lawyer to understand that the Constitution in clear and unmistakable language precludes the government or an individual from taking the life of a citizen short of a conviction of a capital crime.

In fact, it would seem that most attorneys now have had their minds so clouded by petty legalisms that it seems to preclude them from understanding such a basic fact.

Proverbally, our legal minds would seem to have perfected straining out gnats while swallowing camels.