On September 12, Rocky De La Fuente filed this response brief in the combined federal cases challenging the California tax returns-ballot law. Even if you don’t normally read briefs, consider reading this one, because it has some interesting concepts that have not been raised by other briefs. At the end of the brief, De La Fuente points out that the oft-repeated claim that all presidential candidates nowadays reveal their tax returns is not true. He points out that in 2016, the only minor party presidential candidate who revealed her tax returns was Jill Stein (Green Party nominee), and she only released one year’s worth of returns.
Evidently it also needs to be repeated that the overriding responsibility of this Court is to the Constitution of the United States, no matter how late it may be that a violation of the Constitution is found to exist.
Chessman v. Teets, 354 U.S. 156, 165 (1957).
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What cannot be done directly cannot be done indirectly. Cummings v. Missouri, 71 U.S. 277, 325 (1867); U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U.S. 778, 829 (1995).
A law must be tested by its operation and effect. Near v. Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697, 708-709 (1931); U.S. Term Limits, Inc., supra, 514 U.S., at 831.
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*RECOGNIZED* = VOID FOR VAGUENESS — 1 AMDT, DUE PROCESS