This is the same libertarian, anti-conservative, judge who overturned Michigan's 2004 Marriage Act in 2014. He threw out the cases on the grounds the law passed under the Commerce Clause had nothing to do with commerce because Muslim clit cutting isn't a large market with a measurable impact on commerce. It will have when the country is full of Muslims. What a damn fool.Why must we still live under the thumb of judges, let alone under those appointed in the 1980s?
Judge dismisses female genital mutilation charges in historic case:
In a major blow to the federal
government, a judge in Detroit has declared America's female genital
mutilation law unconstitutional, thereby dismissing the key charges
against two Michigan doctors and six others accused of subjecting at
least nine minor girls to the cutting procedure in the nation's first
FGM case.
The historic case involves minor girls
from Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota, including some who cried,
screamed and bled during the procedure and one who was given Valium
ground in liquid Tylenol to keep her calm, court records show.
The judge's ruling also dismissed charges against
three mothers, including two Minnesota women whom prosecutors said
tricked their 7 -year-old daughters into thinking they were coming to
metro Detroit for a girls' weekend, but instead had their genitals
cut at a Livonia clinic as part of a religious procedure.
U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman concluded that
"as despicable as this practice may be," Congress did not have the
authority to pass the 22-year-old federal law that criminalizes female
genital mutilation, and that FGM is for the states to regulate. FGM is
banned worldwide and has been outlawed in more than 30 countries, though
the U.S. statute had never been tested before this case.
"As laudable as the prohibition of a particular type
of abuse of girls may be ... federalism concerns deprive Congress of the
power to enact this statute," Friedman wrote in his 28-page opinion,
noting: "Congress overstepped its bounds by legislating to prohibit FGM
... FGM is a 'local criminal activity' which, in keeping with
long-standing tradition and our federal system of government, is for the
states to regulate, not Congress."
Currently, 27 states have laws that criminalize female
genital mutilation, including Michigan, whose FGM law is stiffer than
the federal statute, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, compared
with five under federal law. Michigan's FGM law was passed last year in
the wake of the historic case and applies to both doctors who conduct
the procedure, and parents who transport a child to have it done. The
defendants in this case can't be retroactively charged under the new
law. ...
"There is nothing commercial or economic about FGM,"
Friedman writes. "As despicable as this practice may be, it is
essentially a criminal assault. ... FGM is not part of a larger market
and it has no demonstrated effect on interstate commerce. The commerce
clause does not permit Congress to regulate a crime of this nature."
