[Sir Gawain]

in NY, first degree murder only applies to the killing of a police officer. if the 14th amendment was as you claim, I am sure some NY lawyer defending a cop killer over these past years would have gotten some court to agree - so far, they haven't, so my guess is that your interpretation of the 14th is incorrect.

My interpretation is correct. The fact is, there are a lot of unconstitutional laws on the books. Hate crime legislation comes to mind.

[oceanview]

state hate crime laws have been upheld, so long as they mainly regulate conduct already criminalized at the state level, and do not criminalize speech alone. so have these kinds of "uplifts" on sentences for acts which are already crimes at the state level.