Bill of attainder
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Bill of attainder constitutional
A law that singles out a specific person or group for punishment without a trial. The Constitution bans them.
Technical: A legislative act inflicting punishment on named individuals or an identifiable group without judicial trial; prohibited to Congress and the states (Art. I, §§9–10).
Founding-era note: Bills of attainder were a known abuse of the English Parliament; the Framers barred them as a separation-of-powers and fair-trial protection.
Sources: Cornell LII — Bill of attainder
A dictionary entry is reference: it describes how a term is used. It is not itself binding law. Why that matters →
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