Disgruntled Criminals?
The No-On-E Club claims "Amendment E gives power to disgruntled criminals."
The true rendition of the above statement is Amendment E gives power to the People as shown in the Preamble of Amendment E:
"We, the People of South Dakota, find that the doctrine of judicial immunity has the potential of being greatly abused; ... the People are obliged - it is their duty - to correct that injury, .... In order to insure judicial accountability and domestic tranquility, we hereby amend our Constitution by adding these provisions...." [emphasis added]
The People of South Dakota, through Amendment E, are providing a means of redress against alleged miscreant judges to victims of specified judicial wrongdoing. Paragraph 3 describes the purpose of this provision as "returning power to the People," to wit:
"... For the purpose of returning power to the People, there is hereby created ... a ... Special Grand Jury ... [whose] responsibility shall be limited to determining ... whether any civil lawsuit against a judge would be frivolous or harassing, or fall within the exclusions of immunity as set forth in paragraph 2, and whether there is probable cause of criminal conduct by the judge ...." [emphasis added]
The People of South Dakota, being the governed, are taking back their power to assure that government, through the judiciary, exercises its just powers by the consent of the People (the governed), thus by holding judges accountable to the People for the specified violations listed in paragraph 2, to wit:
" ... No immunity shall extend to any judge of this State for any deliberate violation of law, fraud or conspiracy, intentional violation of due process of law, deliberate disregard of material facts, judicial acts without jurisdiction, blocking of a lawful conclusion of a case, or any deliberate violation of the Constitutions of South Dakota or the United States, notwithstanding Common Law, or any other contrary statute."
Nowhere, throughout Amendment E, is there any indication that power is given to "disgruntled criminals." Their false statement "Amendment E gives power to disgruntled criminals" is merely one of their many attempts at fear-mongering.
Bill Stegmeier, the Amendment's proponent, stated early on that the opposition will argue that if this Amendment passes, it will cause global warming, global cooling, and continental drift.