Federal District Court Judge Robert Cleland issued a new order in the Does II case on June 21, 2021. In this order Cleland again orders the State and the ACLU to work together to draft a final judgement for his approval, a process that was interrupted by Covid. The parties have until July 12 to do this. A more detailed analysis of the order will be forthcoming from the ACLU, but some highlights of the order are:
Nothing in the Does II case will affect the new SORA that went into effect on March 24, 2021. Any questions about the constitutionality of the new law will have to be raised in a new lawsuit.
The order says, “the new version of SORA applies only to registrants’ conduct on or after March 24, 2021”. For events prior to this date the old law, as modified by his earlier rulings on its constitutionality, still applies.
The order reiterates that law enforcement agencies may not charge people for registry violations that occurred during the pandemic.
The full text of the order can be found at https://www.mied.uscourts.gov/PDFFIles/16-13137SORAOpnOrd.pdf.
—John
