One of the central questions for the court is whether the law unfairly penalizes political parties.

Critics say the law will penalize employers at a time when the economy is only beginning to recover.

They also say that the law penalizes investments in efficiency, which is absurd on its face.

They are campaigning against early marriage and for laws penalizing parents who arrange it.

The law does not penalize people who refuse to divulge names.

The law penalizes states that do not adopt the 0.08 standard by 2004, cutting off 2 percent of their highway financing.

But the law would not penalize anyone who refused to divulge the names of their sexual partners.

The law, however, would not penalize those who refused to divulge the names of their sexual partners.

Opponents argue that these laws would unduly penalize many older people for the abuses of a few.