unconstitutional one way or the other. what i was trying to assess was how they are characterized. some courts would look at those law and call them prevenn tapt preventative. that has a set of consequences. some courts would call them punitive and that has a certain set of consequences. i was trying to figure out how to make the determination whether they were punitive. your note argue they were punitive. there s been some on the bench that have advocated that. the issuesupreme court in 1997 a case. it was a 5-4 vote. this is a question that s been close. i would note beyond that that in