CAP History
(Copied straight from .XML 'backup' file, needs formatting and corrections. ZM User (talk) 16:27, 22 April 2024 (PDT))
The History of CAP Testing
CAP testing slipped into the public consciousness unobserved as part of the phenomena that was Average Joes. When the President made his fateful speech a large percentage of the younger crowd had already been tested without the government's explicit permission. This created problems for many governments, as did the quickly apparent gender imbalance involved in the CAP testing results. Different countries adopted an individual approach to these problems.
Australia
Canada
Great Britain
The British were as caught up in the Average Joes phenomena as the US, so "Average Joe" (CAP) testing was taking place long before the US President announced the presence of the Darjee and the Confederacy. The law requiring mandatory CAP testing was instigated by a directive from the European Parliament and was quickly passed into British Law. This speed was what created the loophole the British government used later.
Effectively from +50 months (see Timeline) the carrying of CAP ID cards]] became illegal. Because of the relationship with the EU and the EU mandate requiring CAP testing it was not possible for the British government to ban the testing itself but they were able to pass a law concerning the possession of the ID card.
Iceland
New Zealand
United States of America
Following the President's speech to the world, he presented to Congress an already negotiated treaty with the Confederacy that would dictate the terms of the relationship between the United States and the extra-terrestrial alliance. These terms, named the Confederacy Protocol, included a mandate that every U.S. citizen aged 14 or older undergo CAP testing.
During the following weeks, while the U.S. Senate debated ratifying the treaty, news reports of the Sa'arm menace blanketed the broadcasts of every channel, and became the sole topic of discussion across the country. Eventually, the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty and codified it into Federal law as the Sa'arm Invasion Resistance Act. However, most states had beaten them to the punch, passing their own legislation mandating CAP testing, sometimes in emergency sessions.
The populace was not completely united behind this idea, however, with those who were more libertarian and/or pacifist-minded leading the resistance. Both legal and political challenges were made to this new mandate.
The federal law was challenged in court as an unconstitutional violation of the 10th Amendment. After years in litigation, the case of Gerling v. U.S. was finally heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, who dismissed it as the plaintiff challenging the law was still subject to Montana state law mandating testing, and thus he had no grounds upon which to sue the federal government over the issue. The Court left open the possibility that a future lawsuit would succeed.
The attitude towards CAP testing and the carriage of CAP ID cards varied tremendously across the country, especially as time progressed and the promise of escape was frustrated to many, their early hope turning to anger at the Confederacy. Several states saw dramatic shifts in political control and removed the CAP testing mandate from their laws. Legal challenges against both state and federal laws were still being made five years after the President had made his announcement.
By year five, only Alaska, California and Hawaii did not have compulsory testing.
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