Wednesday, March 3 – Moving testimony

“I am here only by chance. I could have been the one walking down the street and killed by the drunk driver. Miriam Frankl’s friends here today don’t want to lose any more of their friends.”

Miriam Frankl was the Johns Hopkins student who died last fall at the hands of a driver with a lengthy record of drunk driving violations.

I haven’t witnessed such moving testimony since we heard from the childhood victims of sexual abuse.

I wrote earlier this session that we can’t eliminate problems. We try to reduce the number of fatal accidents, the number of children poisoned by lead paint.

----

The attorney was not a constitutional lawyer, but he should have known better.

He testified that my bill violated the constitutional separation of powers.
Last year, the Supreme Court issued an opinion interpreting the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

As was the case with my Lilly Ledbetter bill last session, this decision does not limit the authority of the Congress and state legislatures to modify the relevant federal or state law.

If a student of mine made such a misguided argument, like Professor Kingsfield in "Paper Chase," I would have given him a dime to call his mother and tell her “there is serious doubt about your ever becoming a lawyer."

(No cell phones in 1973 when the movie came out; Google today so I could get the exact quote.)

Life, liberty or license

Someone who violates a criminal law can lose their life, their liberty, or their license.

While our Senate counterparts listened to Governor O’Malley testify for repeal of the death penalty, the House Judiciary Committee held hearings on eight drunk driving bills.

The argument for tougher penalties: the state’s ability to protect the safety of the traveling public is limited by existing laws that permit the most frequent violators, repeat offenders and young drivers, to remain on the road.

The opposing view: people who lose their license may be unable to get to work or to transport other family members to important activities and events.

When we’re not depriving the accused of life or freedom, I err on the side of preventing harm to others.

Nonetheless, the devil is in the legislative details.

We may begin voting on these bills later this week.