San Jose Clampdown
Seems like every time the San Jose City Council meet, they come up with some new reason for me to be glad I don't live in San Jose. Their latest move: giving the police chief the power to close down nightclubs, apparently without any thought to the owners' rights of due process.
Rodney Foo, San Jose Mercury News: "Council passes nightclub statute"
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After the meeting, Police Chief Davis said the law would be used "very, very judiciously,'' and that its mere existence on the books would probably make recalcitrant club owners more likely to cooperate.
I agree. A law giving the police the power to shut down someone's business needs judicial application. And we just happen to have people who specialize in that type of thing -- they're called judges.
posted by Mike Laursen @ 9:13 PM
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How can the city council do this? Can it be challenged legally?
I don't think it could hold up in court. Of course, by the time some club owner successfully challenged the law, that club owner could be financially ruined.
It's possible the Merc reporter got some of the facts about the ordinance wrong, too. But I didn't want to consider that because then I couldn't post about how outrageous the law is. :-)
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