Prometheus 6

The thing that annoys me most is ignoring the obvious. So people that claim affirmative action programs are prima facie violations of the 14th amendment are very annoying.

Amendment XIV

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

They get stuck on Section 1 and forget all about Section 5:

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Now, what would it mean to enforce Section 1? Obviously you'd want to prevent violations in the first place but what do you do when you find a case that slipped past your guard for a while?

Well, if you're trying to catch people exceeding the speed limit, do you restrict the cops to 55 mph? Or does the cop exceed the speed limit to catch the speeder?

If you catch a thief do you honor the fact that the money is now in his possession? Or do you violate his person to return the victim's cash?

A government and its agents cannot be bound to the same limits as its citizenry, though the extensions must be very specific…for instance, in the case of the thief you wouldn't reimburse the victim by taking money from random people.

And if a corporation breaks the law, you go after the decision-making officers, not the shareholders.

And penalties come from the corporate treasury, not the shareholders' checking accounts.

Point being, there's always an appropriate place to apply a penalty. And applying it always involves the government or its agents doing something a citizen would be arrested for.