Void for vagueness
Void for vagueness is a legal concept in American constitutional law, whereby a civil statute or, more commonly, a criminal statute is adjudged unconstitutional when it is so vague that persons “of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application,” as the United States Supreme Court articulated in Connally v General Construction Co., 269 US 385, 391 (1926). A statute is void for vagueness when: 1) it is unclear what persons fall within its scope, 2) what conduct is forbidden, and/or 3) what punishment may be imposed. Due process requires that a law be reasonably definite as to what persons and conduct are covered as well as the punishment for any violation. In determining whether a law is void for vagueness, courts have imposed the following tests: 1) does the law give fair notice to those persons subject to it? 2) does the law guard against arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement? and 3) can the law be enforced with sufficient “breathing room” for First Amendment rights?
It is difficult to see how a planning document that did not pass this test, could be constitutional and enforceable. Regarding the Transportation Master Plan:
Remove all intangible, vague, uncertain, subjective, ambiguous, duplicitous, parse-able expressions that can be twisted into subjective meanings, value-laden, and emotional language from the plan. If it’s not definite, or if it can create grounds for future disputes, or if it is arguable, or if it is based on contested science, it shouldn’t be in there.
The document is supposed to be about transportation. Make it ONLY about transportation. Cut all the lip service and happy language out. That stuff will only foster divisions that will tie people up and detract from the transportation mission.
“Transportation” is a solvable problem. There is a least-cost, maximally efficient, solution for any transportation network. A transportation plan should be so targeted. It should not be loaded up with non-transportation objectives. It should not be a vehicle to advance a subset of politics.