Summary
In June 2009, after having previously cancelled the scheduled public court hearing for oral arguments, Federal Judge Saundra Armstrong issued her ruling, which invalidated the cities' ordinances. Her ruling is based on the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution, which mandates that the Constitution, laws enacted by Congress, and Ratified Treaties are the "Supreme Law of the Land" and trump any state or local laws.
While the ruling itself was not unexpected, it reads like a word-for-word restatement of the governments motions and includes no response whatsoever to any of the arguments in support of the ordinance. The attorneys for die City of Arcata believe diat, in ruling without allowing oral arguments, the judge also ruled without giving due consideration to the legal filings of the cities. Therefore they are preparing an appeal of the ruling and have extended their offer of pro-bono legal representation through the appeal process. The city councils in Arcata and Eureka have both approved moving forward with the appeal, which was filed in August.Constitutionally, treaties share with federal kw the status of "Supreme Law of the Land" In 2002, die United States joined over one hundred other nations in ratifying the "Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, regarding me involvement of children in armed conflict." This treaty commits signatory nations to the principle that people under the age of 18 should not be recruited into die armed forces. In its signing on to the treaty, the US has reserved the right to recruit 1 7-year-olds. The cities ofrered to settle the case by affirming that they will only enforce the \buth Protection Act for minors under the age of 17, but that offer was refused by the DOJ.See the full content of this document
Extract
Protecting Youth From Military Recruiters
On November 4, 2008, voters in Arcata and Eureka, California, by margins of 73% and 57% respectively, approved ballot initiative ordinances that prohibit the military recruiting of any person under the age of 18.
Specifically, the "Youth Protection Aa" makes it an i...See the full content of this document
