In 1789 the Constitution prohibited Congress and the states from passing Ex Post Facto Laws and Bill of Attainder. The reason why the Constitution ban these two acts was because the Bill of Attainder and Ex Post Facto Laws violated the amendments six and eight since it takes away the people’s rights of trial by jury in the 6th amendment and the increase of cruel punishment that goes against the 8th amendment. The background information may be complicated about the Ex Post Facto Laws and Bill of Attainder. Bill of Attainder, also known as bill of pain and penalties, is, “A legislature act directed against a designated person, pronouncing him guilty of an alleged crime, without trial.” (“Bill of”, n.d.). An example of this bill in action would …show more content…
There are five of the Amendments violated by the ex post facto laws and Bill of Attainder, but the only two most noticeable are the Sixth and Eighth Amendments. The Sixth Amendment in simple terms states, “Guarantees citizens a public and quick trial, the trail is held in the location of the crime, information of the accuser, what time, and why. [They could] bring anyone to trial [and their] rights to remain silence and access to a lawyer.” (Green, Carpenter, n.d.). This means before the person convicted of a crime could be thrown straight to jail, they must go through a trial to save themselves from jail time. The Bill of Attainder violates this because it a legislature act that allows the convicted to be sent to jail without a trail. The Eighth Amendment states in simple terms, “[The government cannot provide] extreme fines or bail, nor cruel or unusual punishments.” (Green, Carpenter, n.d.). This amendment means that the convicted shall not be given an unreasonable fine and the punishment they will undergo shall not be extraordinarily. However, this law ignores the Eighth Amendment since it can also sentence a cruel punishment upon the criminal. These are a two reason as to why the Bill of Attainder is prohibited by Congress since it violates the two amendments. Ex post facto laws also tie in with being prohibited by the