"A lesson in Equality from California"

Our MOJ colleagues Patrick Brennan and Michael Moreland have a clear and compelling essay up at Public Discourse on Gov. Jerry Brown's (D-CA) recent, wise, and just decision to veto California Senate Bill 131, "which would have revived sexual abuse claims that have long been time-barred under California’s statute of limitations."  As Michael and Patrick say, "Brown refused to allow the law to be twisted into a crude tool of vengeance."   A taste:

Fairness and equality must be the grounding principles for our laws. One of the goals of the law is to protect the common good by providing justice and security for the maximum number of citizens. Statutes of limitations reflect the good judgment that remedies for legal wrongs must be fair.

A mark of bad law is the amount of collateral damage it does to innocent individuals, to vital institutions, and to society at large in seeking to remedy an injustice. The damage is often done under the guise of well-meaning intentions to remedy an injustice or identified problem. But the damage is nonetheless real.

Read the whole thing.  And then, perhaps, contrast the reasonable arguments of Moreland and Brennan, and the wise decision of Gov. Brown, with the misguided claims and unjust goals of groups like this one.