Philadelphia, the Grand Jury, and Statutes of Limitation or Repose

I would like to offer an initial reflection on Mark's important post of earlier today. I have been thinking about the statute of limitations issue regarding sex abuse cases that involve the Church for some time. The tragedy that surrounds us is serious, I hasten to add. But one important issue to consider regarding the issue Mark has raised is this: if statutes of limitations are suspended/revoked for priests, bishops, and dioceses, then they will have to be suspended/revoked for the lawyers, doctors, counselors and therapists who advised bishops and religious superiors, etc. And then after this happens, all statutes of limitations and repose involving criminal and civil cases are open to suspension or revocation. Why? I would start of with the Equal Protection argument under the Constitution. If statutes of limitation or repose can be suspended in one type of case, equal protection would require the same in all cases. If not, there is no equal protection under the law. I found it interesting that Prof. Marci Hamilton, whose work has been the topic of previous posts on MOJ, served as a Constitutional law advisor to the DA on this investigation. As she said in her own posting, "I was asked by District Attorney Abraham to be the constitutional law advisor to the grand jury, and willingly assisted the Philadelphia investigation."   RJA sj