Legal trivia can bite

Legal trivia: in Florida you can get 5 years for notorizing your own signature. Since it’s not clear why notorizing should matter, the law doesn’t seem to be enforced much except in special cases like anti-gay rights petitions. So in Miami two involved in a campaign to overturn a local gay-rights ordinance are being charged with the felony of unlawful use of a notary commission. Seems fair—if they don’t have the energy to notorize each other’s signatures why not let them cool their heels in the slammer? The special prosecutor is also going after a 17-year-old campaign volunteer, as well as the local head of the Christian Coalition. Some might call it absurd and discriminatory overreaction to formal irregularities in paperwork submitted by a volunteer citizens’ campaign, but to me it looks like heads-up police work. Good show!
Posted by Jim Kalb at August 22, 2002 08:03 AM | Send