Practice question
An accused challenges a conduct-focused penal law as applied to an act it clearly and objectively defines. The sole argument is that an imagined unrelated situation involving another person might be difficult to classify. No protected-expression or other basis for broader review is established. What follows?
- Any remote hypothetical automatically invalidates the whole statute
- The court must convict without examining the actual charge
- The hypothetical alone does not establish the accused’s as-applied due-process claim or an automatic right to wholesale invalidation
- All constitutional challenges to penal laws are forbidden
- Legislative use of any definition eliminates judicial review
Legal references
- https://lawphil.net/consti/cons1987.html — Constitution, Article III sections1 and14: due process, fair accusation, hearing and presumption of innocence.
- https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2001/nov2001/gr_148560_2001.html — Estrada v. Sandiganbayan, G.R. 148560, November 19, 2001, main decision: fair notice, objective standards and vagueness; not relied upon for historical death-penalty provisions.
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