3 ms·
I'm rather surprised that you can write a law calling out one particular company by name and applying solely to that one company, as the Montana bill does. How
by jasonhansel 4y ago
I'm rather surprised that you can write a law calling out one particular company by name and applying solely to that one company, as the Montana bill does. How common is this?
- duskwuff 4y agoPractically unheard of. It's usually tiptoed around by wording laws in such a way that they only apply to one company. Compare, for example, the recent Arkansas bill[1] banning some social media services, which effectively exempts TikTok by making an exception for any "social media company that allows a user to generate short video clips of dancing, voice overs, or other acts of entertainment". For that matter, it's unclear if it's even constitutional. Article I, Section 9 of the US Constitution flatly prohibits bills of attainder (laws which declare a specific person guilty of a crime and/or subject them to punishments). It's undecided whether this clause extends to corporations or only to natural persons, but the possibility is enough. [1]: https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2023R%2FPublic%2FSB396.pdf https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/FTPDocument?path=%2FBil...
- jasonhansel 4y agoYeah, I understand passing a law that is intentionally designed to apply to only one company. But it's odd for a law to just name the company.
- duskwuff 4y agoParticularly when the entire intent of the law is to declare the company guilty of a variety of offenses and force them to cease operations. It feels like a massive overstep into the responsibilities of the judicial branch -- and one which isn't even based on any specific laws or legal principles.