The House should not be in the business of defending an unconstitutional statute that is neither rational nor serves any governmental interest.

During the ratification conventions, Coke was mentioned, but not in debates over the striking down of unconstitutional statutes.

The Federal District Court held Nebraska's statute unconstitutional on two counts.

And now we have a 200-plus-page opinion from the third branch of government telling us that an obviously unconstitutional statute is, well, obviously unconstitutional.

Amazon asks the court to declare the statute unconstitutional and unenforceable, and that the company not be required to comply.

Under Bill Clinton, the Justice Department told the White House that the president could "decline to execute unconstitutional statutes."

Nevertheless, arrests continued under the old, unconstitutional statute, which the judge traced to 1788.

According to the lawsuit, at least 140 people were prosecuted under the unconstitutional statute in 2003 and 2004, with 129 of them arrested in the Bronx.

Failure to enjoin the unconstitutional statute would require the person subject to a potential violation to either pay the increased rate or face the threat of prosecution.

They said the procedures for obtaining a judicial hearing were "far too burdensome to remedy an otherwise unconstitutional statute."