Plain English, Please? : SOPA

H.R. 3261: The "Stop Online Piracy Act"

Part 1: Getting Started

SOPA. Just the name of the bill is enough to send a chill down the spine of internet savvy individuals everywhere. It may not have been the first time that a bill like this was brought in front of Congress for a vote, but it was certainly the one we reacted to the loudest. But what does it actually say?

The complications of legal language are a pain to slog through, which means most people don’t actually read the laws that are being passed. Or at least the ones that try to be passed. Luckily, this one didn’t and luckily you have me.  But this one is long, clocking in at 77 pages. I promise not to be nearly as verbose.

Here’s how this segment is going to work. I’ll be as fair and unbiased as possible, but cut down the language to something simpler. Granted almost any language is simpler than legal text, and I admit I am just as human as everyone else so some bias is unavoidable.  I’ll go segment by segment, usually skipping the first section that tends to go something like this:

                Section 1. Short title; table of contents

(a)    Short title.---

This Act may be cited as something that won’t make our interns kill us when we make them type this up.

(b)   Table of contents.---

No really, this is an actual table of contents. Feel free to skip around as needed

There are also some sections that are unavoidable within Legislative bills in particular that we should go through first, or at least the terminology. Section one is always the least important of the entire bill, because it’s the title everyone uses and the table of contents but not much else.  Don’t be surprised if I skip straight to Section 2.

Section 2 gets more to the meat of things. The Savings and Severability Clauses. Savings clauses are meant to protect already engrained laws and sanctions from being restrained, particularly on Constitutional amendments. Never be surprised to see a 1^st, 14^th, or 17^th amendment savings clause in a bill. Whether or not the savings clauses are strictly adhered to is another discussion entirely. Severability clauses basically are admissions that they may not get every section constitutionally kosher the first time, and allow sections to be stricken down without the entire bill getting thrown out all together.

Section 2 is the end of the preliminary sections before it breaks up into Titles. The bulk of the bill and the important parts are in the titles, so that’s where I’ll be focusing the most time on and what will ultimately take the longest. There’s usually a section on definitions in the beginning of Title I, and some of those definitions come from other bills. I’ll do the legwork if they don’t do a direct definition in the text.

Other than that, welcome to the first in the Plain English, Please? Segment! Feel free to comment or discuss below, and if you have any requests for laws or court decisions for this segment don’t hesitate to email your request to activelynerdy@gmail.com.

Next Week:  Savings, Severability, and Definitions

And remember, it doesn’t matter what you get nerdy about, just as long as you’re active.