ex post facto

The AIG bonus fiasco is still that – a fiasco.

BHO gave them our money, the people got angry at how AIG used it. Now BHO has decided he’s angry too and wants to take the money back in the form of a new law that would tax the bonuses in question at a whopping 90%

BHO screwed up, and his answer, as it seems to be for just about everything, is another tax. As questionable as those bonuses may have been, a specific tax on a specific group of people is abhorrent. Better than that, it’s illegal.

Despite his oath, I’m pretty sure BHO has not read the Constitution. Somebody needs to. Article 1, Section 9, Clause 3 reads: No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

I’m not a lawyer, nor a constitutional scholar (scholar of any kind for that matter,) but I’m pretty sure what that means is Congress cannot pass a law that punishes an act already past that was not illegal at the time of its commission. If I paint a cow purple today and it is not illegal, and a law is passed tomorrow that makes painting cows illegal, I cannot be punished for it.

Let me know if I’m wrong.