While the lawsuit against International Megan’s Law continues, a federal judge has refused a request to halt implementation of the law.
Courthouse News Service reports on the decision by U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton.
Following a hearing last month, U.S. District Chief Judge Phyllis Hamilton on Wednesday rejected a motion to halt implementation of the law, saying that while domestic travel may be a fundamental right, there is no such right to international travel. Moreover, she wrote, a timeline for implementation isn’t even in the works at this point, and the State Department said it isn’t prepared to start placing identifiers on U.S. passports. The department says its best estimate to begin marking sex offenders’ passports is sometime around the end of 2016.
Janice Bellucci, president of California Reform Sex Offender Laws, is representing plaintiffs in the case. Read her response to Judge Hamilton’s decision here.
Click here to read Judge Hamilton’s full decision.