Because technically[1] the US comprises 50 independent states[2]. Each is free to conduct its affairs freely except for specific powers reserved for the federa

Because technically[1] the US comprises 50 independent states[2]. Each is free to conduct its affairs freely except for specific powers reserved for the federal government[1]. Today people think of "the United States" as both a singular noun and a singular government, but that's not the formal legal structure. Your point is well taken, though: All laws ought to be open and freely available to the public. Anything else would be Orwellian.[3] [1] If you hold the 10th amendment and its juridical descendants to have meaning. [2] In the 18th-century sense of the word, i.e. a sovereign jurisdiction. [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22 [4] [4] Yes, I know Orwell didn't write Catch-22.