Under the headline “Senate considers punishment for Marines in nude photo scandal,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., is quoted as saying that he wanted to explore how to punish non active duty and retired personnel who participated. “One idea: stripping any guilty veterans of benefits.”
This is an example of allowing emotional reaction to ignore due process and the rule of law. A member of Congress who takes an oath to uphold the Constitution should know that Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution prohibits Congress from passing ex post facto laws.
Ex post facto means “a thing done afterward.” An ex post fact law “makes illegal an act that was legal when committed, increases the penalty for an infraction after it was committed, or changes the rules of evidence to make conviction easier.”
Furthermore, targeting retired personnel with pensions would reach only the small minority of career servicemen who actually retired and received a pension, not to mention the time and money spent trying to track down events that happened in the past. Congress might be better occupied in making sure it doesn’t happen in the present and future.
Judith Truesdell
Shelburne