re: #243 Charles

It’s pretty common that laws are not written until there occurs some event or condition that demonstrates that there is a new need for a new law. I can immediately think of things like needle exchange programs or no-questions-asked baby drop-offs or identify theft preventatives.

In fact, if a proof-of-qualifications law had been put into place years or decades or a couple of centuries ago — if it had been thought to be needed then — there would be none of this current hullaballoo over the current president. Or would have been, as there was, over John McCain.

This federal bill intends to prevent FUTURE problems.

There is a doctrine in the law called “subsequent remedial measures” which holds that if you trip over something or slip on something and AFTER your fall, the property owner modifies or marks the item involved, you CANNOT cite the owner’s action as proof of their previous negligence.

In other words, somebody’s trying to improve something cannot be held against them.

This seems very similar to me. There is a situation here that needs to be fixed. Fixing it need have NOTHING to do with any current claims.

We’d never have any progress in the law or anything else if all intended improvements were held to be “political” and for that reason alone suspect and undesirable.