helltopay1 said:
Dear Sucks....Let's start with the first amendment.
Then, let's talk about Due Process.
Then, let's talk about being secure with your private property and papers unless presented with a search warrant.
Once we do that, were any crimes committed?????Nope..He made fun of lots of people---big deal. We do that 56,000 times a day on this site. Did he have a realistic expectation of privacy???Yes he did!! I understand he shared some racy photos of cheerleaders...Really?????To all readers of this site...have you ever watched porno sites????Want this info released????Of course you do....Your wife and kids will be thrilled. What happened here is that Goodell wanted to protect his buddy Dan Snyder and, at the same time, crush Gruden for calling him a ***** and a ******. Simple as that. .
Ok so let's get into it. You raised three constitutional "arguments", the first amendment, the 14th amendment and the 4th amendment. I will address each one. For anyone who's even remotely familiar with the US, you can stop reading here. Nothing I say should be particularly interesting or informative but it appears that htp has failed to pay attention over the last 9 decades to how things work here so I will explain it to him the way I would to my 5 year old.
First, the constitution is the supreme law in the US, but it doesn't pertain to all disputes between individuals. The constitution created a framework for our federal government and to limit its powers. The tenth amendment states that all rights not delegated to the federal government or prohibited by it to the states, are reserved for the states and the people. Notably it does not say which go to the people and which go to the states.
The first 9 amendments lay out specific personal freedoms and rights and limitations on government power. As written, they do not limit private actors (with some very limited exceptions by interpretation when the private actors are participating in state action) and only apply to the federal government. The 14th amendment extended these limitations to the states as well. The 14th amendment also created the due process requirement, but again that only applies to the government.
With that said, let's look at the 3 specific rights/limitations you identified.
First Amendment: As I alluded to in a prior post, the first word in the first amendment is "Congress" not "Raiders." If you don't know that the first amendment doesn't govern private action (with extremely limited exceptions) then you should really stop pretending you know anything about the constitution or our government. This is table stakes. I'm struggling with how to explain this to an octogenarian who is so obtuse he hasn't learned this by now but here goes. The first amendment prevents the GOVERNMENT from infringing certain freedoms but it doesn't prevent THE RAIDERS or THE WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM or THE NFL from doing anything. Moreover, even if the government were involved, there is no first amendment issue. No one has been silenced. No one's been prevented from practicing their religion. No one's been prevented from assembly. There is no first amendment issue. You should go sit in the corner and think about what you've done that led you to believe there was a first amendment issue.
Due Process: As I mentioned above, due process comes from the Fourteenth Amendment. Here's the relevant clause: "nor shall any
state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law". How anyone could believe that state action or a due process violation is apt with respect to Jon Gruden resigning because he got caught red-handed publicly sharing his abhorrent views is beyond me. No one has deprived Gruden of life, liberty or property. Not the feds, not any state and no local government. Not the NFL, not the Washington Football Team and not the Raiders. Gruden resigned. This is probably an even dumber argument than your first one.
Searched and Seizures: The fourth amendment limits the government's ability to search and seize your property without probable cause. If you want to complain about stop and frisk - you look to the fourth amendment. If you want to complain about your nursing home orderly confiscating your Trump propaganda - you need to look elsewhere. Once again, there was no government action here. Jon Gruden is a moron who used his work email to communicate with an NFL front office idiot on that person's work email. The government didn't search those emails, they were produced as part of a lawsuit. If you email someone something and you don't have an agreement (NDA) or some sort of privilege (atty-client being the most common one), you don't typically have a leg to stand on to protect that communication. This would be like you sending Hillary Clinton a threatening letter and then complaining about the 4th amendment when she shares it publicly. Honestly, this is probably the dumbest argument of the three. It's hard to even construct a world in which this argument makes any sense. You should be ashamed of yourself for failing this badly.
In conclusion, Jon Gruden voluntarily resigned his position with the Raiders because he knew his continued employment was untenable in the wake of the torrent of abhorrent communications which had been found. He's a horrible person who has no business leading an organization. He doesn't have anyone to sue but himself for being an idiot. He is not afforded any constitutional protection from his public, un-privileged statements made while working for ESPN.
The fact that you are white knighting Jon Gruden is all the evidence anyone ever needed to prove you are also an abhorrent piece of excrement who identifies with racists and bigots. Congratulations because that's the only convincing argument you've actually made here.
