3 ms·

Part of the purpose of laws is to act as a deterrent. This can't happen if people are ignorant of them.

toomuchtodo 11y ago
I have an extremely difficult time believing that a past member of the legislative branch of the government is unaware of a law. That's your job. To know the law.
- musername 11y ago
  But if so, it just shows that there are way too many laws.
- AnimalMuppet 11y ago
  No, it's his job to write the law. But... Too many 2000-page bills. Too many "you have to pass it to know what's in it" bills. They can write it, and still not know what it says. But the hammer should fall on them for that, too, because if they had done a decent job writing it, it wouldn't be so hard to know what it says.
- anigbrowl 11y ago
  Indeed, the Speaker of the House is arguably the most powerful member of the legislative branch. In the disastrous event that the President and Vice-President die or are otherwise incapacitated, the Speaker is next in line to head the government. In his or her legislative capacity, the Speaker also wields a vast amount of power, (largely) deciding which legislation comes up for debate or vote, and what sort of practices are acceptable in the legislative chamber.
- perfTerm 11y ago
  Yea I'm a nobody and I know about over 10,000 dollar transaction reports. Anyone with actual assets sure should
- walshemj 11y ago
  Well a load of Journalists in the UK got of with the argument that they didn't know that bribing police officers/civil service wasn't illegal. Of course the ones who got paid are doing 3 years in jail (and will probably lose all their pensions) whist the hacks got off scott free
rdtsc 11y ago
Not necessarily. The purpose of some laws are entrapment, getting the ability to harass, prosecute, or in general make life difficult for certain people. Some function as catch-alls to be able to slap arbitrarily high number of charges onto someone.

I have an extremely difficult time believing that a past member of the legislative branch of the government is unaware of a law. That's your job. To know the law.

musername 11y ago
But if so, it just shows that there are way too many laws.
AnimalMuppet 11y ago
No, it's his job to write the law. But... Too many 2000-page bills. Too many "you have to pass it to know what's in it" bills. They can write it, and still not know what it says. But the hammer should fall on them for that, too, because if they had done a decent job writing it, it wouldn't be so hard to know what it says.
anigbrowl 11y ago
Indeed, the Speaker of the House is arguably the most powerful member of the legislative branch. In the disastrous event that the President and Vice-President die or are otherwise incapacitated, the Speaker is next in line to head the government. In his or her legislative capacity, the Speaker also wields a vast amount of power, (largely) deciding which legislation comes up for debate or vote, and what sort of practices are acceptable in the legislative chamber.
perfTerm 11y ago
Yea I'm a nobody and I know about over 10,000 dollar transaction reports. Anyone with actual assets sure should
walshemj 11y ago
Well a load of Journalists in the UK got of with the argument that they didn't know that bribing police officers/civil service wasn't illegal. Of course the ones who got paid are doing 3 years in jail (and will probably lose all their pensions) whist the hacks got off scott free

rdtsc 11y ago

Not necessarily. The purpose of some laws are entrapment, getting the ability to harass, prosecute, or in general make life difficult for certain people. Some function as catch-alls to be able to slap arbitrarily high number of charges onto someone.