Nick Surratt, MTN Reporter
February 10th, 2021
Parts of Tennessee’s recent sex offender registration act have been
found to violate a constitutional clause regarding retroactive laws.
The Ex Post Facto clause prevents both federal and state
governments from enacting laws that punish crimes that happened prior to
that law’s passing.
U.S. District Court Judge Eli Richardson found that parts of the law
would punish the two plaintiffs that brought the case. Both plaintiffs were
convicted more than twenty years ago, well before the new act was
introduced.
Judge Richardson also ruled that monitoring the online activities of
sex offenders is not a violation of the First Amendment.