SCOTUS

The Whistler  •  June 25, 2008

At its next to the last public session this morning, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Kennedy v. Louisiana. By the same 5-4 majority, the liberals on the court ruled that the death penalty is an inappropriate punishment for the crime of child rape. The majority opinion, once again authored by Justice Kennedy (no relation!) appears to be every bit as specious and disingenuous as was the case in Boumediene earlier this week.
The court also announced that its rulings in the 7 remaining cases for this current term will be announced tomorrow at 10 AM. Most prominent is the long awaited ruling in D.C. V. Heller, the first 2nd Amendment case undertaken by the Court since 1939, an opinioon rumored to have been authored by the current Court’s premier originalist and leading intellectual light, Antonin Scalia.

Tags:


«
»
  • http://Array Bat One

    Chris,

    My purpose in posting this was twofold. First was curiosity at bestirring Hawk, who is an attorney.

    Second, and far more importantly, was the announcement that the Heller decision will be released to morrow at 10 AM.

    I don’t much care one way or another about today’s Kennedy decision… other than the dissent by Justice Alito gives us some much needed insight into his development as a Supreme Court Justice.

    As for the death penalty for child rape, I can see both sides to that argument, though if it was my kid, I can promise the perp would never make it to trial… no matter what it cost me.

  • Texan Across the Pond

    Great! Louisiana, go ahead and treat those monsters like any other garden variety felon and place them in the general prison population. I assure you the other prisoners will dispense “jailhouse justice” and the monster will soon have a shiv in his throat.

  • Hawk

    Is everything you disagree with specious and disingenous?

  • Bat One

    Hawk,

    I’m trying to be kind to Kennedy… given his age and obvious intellectual deterioration.

    Feel free to offer your own adjectives once you’ve read the syllabus or the opinion.

    Incidentally, Lestat made a valiant effort at filling in for you last evening. Not at all up to your standards, of course, and way too inclined to get exasperated, but then what can you expect, really?

  • http://Tifosi1F1.blogspot.com/ Chris Brownell

    The death penalty is in my opinion just a mistake, in all instances. The death penalty for a crime that does not involve the death of another human being is pretty indefensible. The crime of raping a child is with out a doubt heinous. It should be met with the loss of freedom and placement in captivity for the remainder of the life of the offender. That life should be difficult, and hard, as in hard labor. Doing laundry and lifting weights is not hard labor. TV is not hard labor.

    Imposing the death penalty is not a solution for the failure of our department of corrections failures to treat criminals like criminals.

    The death penalty does not bring the victims survivors closure, or solace. (admittedly this is an anecdotal point) but I believe it would be supported if I could find the studies to prove or disprove it.

    The Supreme court justices make loads of errors, with out question. Citizens misinterpret the Supreme Court decisions regularly; confusing what was decided with something that they assume it meant. I am guilty of this also, from time to time.
    The high court did not make an error in this case.

    C.

  • Bat One

    I don’t know how they exactly pulled the decision of only applying the death penalty to murder cases from the 8th ammendment.

    Rob B.,

    Actually, Kennedy’s opinion is a little ambiguous in that it does not specify that only murder, and heinous ones at that, warrant the death penalty. All the majority did was take the death penalty off the table for child rape… the extant case.

    I mention this because the federal crime of treason also carries the death penalty in some circumstances, and that question was not addressed by today’s ruling.

    Kennedy’s opinion says that there is now a “consensus” in this country against the death penalty for child rape, demonstrating once again just how badly this country needs to replace at least a couple liberal justices with some who do not arrogate unto themselves the nation’s legislative function.

  • http://www.bikebubba.blogspot.com/ Bike Bubba

    I’m bummed by this decision. While I wouldn’t have come up with the idea of trying what Louisiana tried, the ugly reality is that the victim of a child rape lives to suffer the effects every day of his or her life. If any other crime than 1st degree murder ought to be punished by death, forcible rape of a child ought to be high on the list.

    On the other hand, an uglier reality is that the perp has probably gotten a few unwanted boyfriends already in jail, so to a degree, he’s getting “an eye for an eye.”

  • http://Tifosi1F1.blogspot.com/ Chris Brownell

    Heller is going to be supremely (ha!) important. I agree. I can only hope that the leftists on the court will use their heads and follow the actual second amendment, not some European Union interpretation of what it says, or something worse as I am sure a person like Ginsberg would like to see happen.

    The death penalty has no place in our society. But neither do criminals who commit acts of violence like this, child rape case, have a place where they lie about and read books, and file petitions in court week after week. They should be doing back breaking labor, working their fingers to the bone, recycling asphalt and concrete with sledge hammers and enjoying their bread and water.

    Thanks for the clarification Bat!

    C.

  • Neiman

    Chris Brownell:
    I agree with everything you said, it is ther most vile of crimes, it deserves hard, very hard labor for life, it deserves the worst punishment; but when we decide we can execute people for crimes other than wherein they took a life, we are on a dangerous and slippery slope that will see the death penalty for a host of crimes, even political ones.

  • Lestat

    While I wouldn’t have come up with the idea of trying what Louisiana tried

    Louisiana really didn’t try anything that remarkable. Back in the 70s or 80s a case was decided where it was stated that the death penalty could not be given for the rape of an adult woman. Ever since than it has been an open question on whether rape of a child could get the death penalty. I guess rape of an adult man is also an open question, but I doubt anybody will try that one.

  • http://www.fileitunder.com/ Rob B.

    I have nothing against the death penalty but I really had no dog in this fight. I don’t know how they exactly pulled the decision of only applying the death penalty to murder cases from the 8th ammendment but I don’t find it distressing.

    That being said, I like Chris’ idea of hard labor and considering that we have a really long southern border and we were wanting to build a wall, I think we could arrange that. As a bonus, any criminal that escaped into Mexico would be kind of like a gift in kind to thier government for all the Mexican criminals that slip across our border. And as a double bonus, it’ll be easier to guard the border because you, get this, already have guards there watching the prisoners.

    Of course, this is probably too rational and pork free to get through congress. We’d need Sen. Ted Stevens to “pimp our ride” with a bridge between Anchorage and Hawaii to get it passed.

  • Bat One

    BB,

    Just a minor correction: Mr. Scalia was appointed to the Court by President Reagan.

  • dragon poker

    Dragon Poker, arguably the appointment of Roberts, Thomas, Alito, and Scalia to the bench by Mssrs. Bush has prevented this absurd decision from being 9-0, and hence its warped logic is more easily overturned.

    Well that is true, but doesnt mitigate the ruling much.
    This ruling seems to contend that these prisoners (could we quit calling them DETAINEE’S PLEASE) have all rights of an American citizen. If they dont qualify for POW status, we should change the regulations to meet the times we are in.
    In fact, since we keep going about on these military expeditions without a declaration of war ourselves, shouldnt we go ahead and bring the whole system of how we define war, how it is presented to the population, and how we deal with the prisoners we take, on the battle field or with law enforcement, up to date? Seems like the real reason this whole Gitmo thing is happening is because we are using an outdated model for a modern problem.
    If the whole habeas corpus thing had been resonably dealt with years ago, the Supreme Court would likely have never seen the case and never made the ruling. Again, lack of forward thinking by this administration has brought this ruling about. They could have done something, but chose to go about it with no thought as to the repercussions of thier inaction. Did GWB think the Supreme Court would rubber stamp him like the congress did for so long?
    Hoist by his own petard.

  • Neiman

    Kennedy’s opinion says that there is now a “consensus” in this country against the death penalty for child rape, demonstrating once again just how badly this country needs to replace at least a couple liberal justices with some who do not arrogate unto themselves the nation’s legislative function.

    A. Osamabama, if he has the opportunity, will only appoint extremely liberal Justices.
    B. Seven of the current Nine Justices were appointed by Republican presidents, thus even electing a Republican or Conservative Republican POTUS is no guarantee we’ll get a Justice that will actually rule as a conservative. Eisenhower regretted until his dying day appointing that pig Earl Warren.
    C. Sorry Chris SCOTUS more and more believes their decisions should appeal and conform to International Law, making it greater than our own Constitution. They do not see their role as interpreting laws and policies on the Constitution alone at all; rather they see their role as legislating a new Constitution in their image from the bench, making this country into a judicial kleptocracy.

  • http://www.sayanythingblog.com/ electnixon

    whoops, I hit bold insteada blockquote

  • qrstuv

    Chris Brownell, you’re really missing the point.

    You’re entitled to your opinion on what the law should be. SO IS EVERY OTHER VOTER IN THIS NATION.

    But now nobody’s vote matters, not on this. A majority could (and I would guess does) strongly disagree with you, but you got your way.

    How is that right? How is it right to push a minority point of view onto the country? Do you consider that democratic?

  • http://www.bikebubba.blogspot.com/ Bike Bubba

    Dragon Poker, arguably the appointment of Roberts, Thomas, Alito, and Scalia to the bench by Mssrs. Bush has prevented this absurd decision from being 9-0, and hence its warped logic is more easily overturned.

  • dragon poker

    If I remember right, alot of conservatives who didnt like GWB much in 2000 said they would only vote for him to KEEP THE SUPREME COURT FROM GOING LEFT.
    Hows that working for ya so far conservatives?? Feel foolish?
    The GOP has clearly failed you right of center people.

  • http://www.sayanythingblog.com/ electnixon

    Kennedy’s opinion says that there is now a “consensus” in this country against the death penalty for child rape, demonstrating once again just how badly this country needs to replace at least a couple liberal justices with some who do not arrogate unto themselves the nation’s legislative function.

    I think that most can (or at least should) agree with that.

Create a SAB Readerblog


Recent Comments

Powered by Disqus

Blog Advice and Support
Installs and Upgrades
Theme Modifications
Custom Plugins
Theme Design
Conversions and Relocations
Hacked Site Recovery
Mobile Apps Development