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asaris · 06-30-2003, 03:19 AM

Just for those who are interested, this is what the majority opinion writes about the dissent:

Quote:

The dissent says it is a "fallacy" to apply the label " 'unfair and dishonest' " to this statute, a law that revives long-dead prosecutions. Post, at 18-19. The dissent supports this conclusion with three arguments. First, it suggests that "retroactive extension of unexpired statutes of limitations" is no less unfair. Post, at 19. Second, the dissent refers to the small likelihood that "criminals keep calendars" to mark the expiration of limitations periods, and it mocks the possibility that revival "destroys a reliance interest." Ibid. Third, the dissent emphasizes the harm that child molestation causes, a harm that "will plague the victim for a lifetime," and stresses the need to convict those who abuse children. Post, at 20-21.

In making the first argument, the dissent reverses field, abandoning its historical literalism to appeal to practical consequences. But history, case law, and constitutional purposes all are relevant. At a minimum, the first two of these adequately explain the difference between expired and unexpired statutes of limitations, and Chase's alternative description of second category laws itself supports such a distinction. See supra, at 5-6, 10-11.

In making its second argument, which denies the existence of significant reliance interests, the dissent ignores the potentially lengthy period of time (in this case, 22 years) during which the accused lacked notice that he might be prosecuted and during which he was unaware, for example, of any need to preserve evidence of innocence. See supra, at 3. Memories fade, and witnesses can die or disappear. See supra, at 8. Such problems can plague child abuse cases, where recollection after so many years may be uncertain, and "recovered" memories faulty, but may nonetheless lead to prosecutions that destroy families. See, e.g., Holdsworth, Is It Repressed Memory with Delayed Recall or Is It False Memory Syndrome? The Controversy and Its Potential Legal Implications, 22 Law & Psychol. Rev. 103, 103-104 (1998). Regardless, a constitutional principle must apply not only in child abuse cases, but in every criminal case. And, insofar as we can tell, the dissent's principle would permit the State to revive a prosecution for any kind of crime without any temporal limitation. Thus, in the criminal context, the dissent goes beyond our prior statements of what is constitutionally permissible even in the analogous civil context. Chase Securities Corp. v. Donaldson, 325 U. S. 304, 312, n. 8, and 315-316 (1945) (acknowledging that extension of even an expired civil limitations period can unconstitutionally infringe upon a "vested right"); William Danzer & Co. v. Gulf & Ship Island R. Co., 268 U. S. 633, 637 (1925) (holding the same). But see post, at 6, 22. It is difficult to believe that the Constitution grants greater protection from unfair retroactivity to property than to human liberty.

As to the dissent's third argument, we agree that the State's interest in prosecuting child abuse cases is an important one. But there is also a predominating constitutional interest in forbidding the State to revive a long-forbidden prosecution. And to hold that such a law is ex post facto does not prevent the State from extending time limits for the prosecution of future offenses, or for prosecutions not yet time barred.