Texas seems determined to make itself unfriendly to business as it thumbs it’s nose at the basic idea of the rule of law. You know the kind of thing where it applies equally to all of us and it isn’t in the hands of private citizens to carry out vigilante justice? Yeah that thing that makes America great. The SB8 abortion bill should concern everyone regardless of their views on abortion. Here is a TLDR if you aren’t following the news.
Every element of this law was written to weaponize the courts and will allow literally anyone to abuse and harass the vulnerable without ramification. Shit like this undermines the rule of law for all of us. And if you think this won’t be the blueprint for many further laws, by both the left and right, you are deluding yourself. Populism isn’t big on principles.
I believe in the rule of law. I would never live in a state that is intentionally enabling the abuse and harassment of its citizens. Texas is rapidly making itself an i hospital place for democracy.
It is not just that they have created the private right of action, it is that every element of the law has been written to be as painful for the defendant as possible and as consequence free for the plaintiff, regardless of how bad faith the complaint may be. The right used to care about frivolous lawsuits. Businesses still do. All startups should oppose this bill independent of their views on abortion. This is bad for business.
The precedent that this is setting in developing laws that allow the courts to be used for such blatant and consequence-free attacks should be particularly concerning for startups as they do not have the money or teams to defend against frivolous lawsuits. Current-day Uber could deal with the harassing lawsuits but your 25 person startup can’t. This privileges big business so there is a lens through which this simply further entrenches dominant corporations.
The entire aim of the populist and theocratic right is to create a convoluted mess of weaponized legislation to punish and harass anyone they do not like. A good example of this was pointed out by Mike Masnick in that under the populist’s right ideal version of this abortion and their social media bill that they are considering, if someone posted on Facenook how to get an abortion then Facebook would get sued for leaving that information up but would also be liable for taking it down. Which one is it guys?
I think the curbing of the voting franchise is part of the same trend. Using convoluted legal policy to further your religious or political ends undermines the rule of law upon which businesses rely.
It is a truism that one should only give powers to the government that you are happy with your worst enemy wielding. This is why I am a small government conservative. Is anyone happy with their worst enemy wielding vigilante justice?
The issue even pro life people should have with this precedent, is that people on the left can use the exact same model to attack constitutional rights they do not like such as gun rights. Just as the right is dodging the protections of Roe, the left could use the same technique to dodge the protections of Heller. Not great Bob!
It is a bad precedent because if something that is so clearly political where the specific intent of the law is to allow private parties to use the courts to harass people they do not like, if that works, and it achieves their end, then this is a model that will get replicated in other areas. Imagine if you are a business. No reasonable business wants to endure this type of unpredictable risk.
The law is meant to treat everyone equally, it is not meant to further religious or political aims. We are not a banana republic. This bill undermines the fundamental rule of law. All right minded people should oppose it.