re: #74 subsailor68

Sub, I think it’s important to note that this already happens on the state level right now; I think the argument at the Supreme Court is just about the federal power to do it or not.

From the article:

because the power to authorize what is normally a state function cannot be found in the Constitution.

SNIP

[Scalia] rejected Kagan’s argument that the federal government had a responsibility because the states were not taking on the task.

“This is a recipe for the federal government taking over everything,” Scalia said. “The states won’t do it, therefore we have to do it. It has to be done and therefore the federal government steps in and does it.”

Scalia said a better — and constitutional — way to deal with the problem might be to make sure that a state knows a potentially dangerous person is about to be released, and set up a program to reimburse states for confining such people.

So Scalia does not appear to have a problem with the states doing this; he does not think it is unconstitutional to do this, just unconstitutional for the federal government to do this.

From my reading, anyway.