A couple of years ago I was on a grand jury which heard dozens of cases each week. About a quarter of the cases involved either child sexual abuse or child pornography. In each instance, the district attorney’s presented evidence, live testimony from child victims, graphic photos and videos. We went through this cycle time after time. It was sickening and something that has stayed with me.
The idea that child rapists are protected from the death penalty is obscene to me. We are not talking about shooting them, hanging them or electrocuting them. We are talking about lethal injection.
Justice Kennedy, once again, is on the wrong side of the issue. In the majority opinion, he says that the death penalty violates the eighth amendment,
The Eighth Amendment, applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, provides that “[e]xcessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.â€
Kennedy then goes on to write the following,
Evolving standards of decency must embrace and express respect for the dignity of the person, and the punishment of criminals must conform to that rule.
“Evolving standards of decency”? Dignity of the person? He’s not referring to a homeless panhandler, but a vicious, sadistic child rapist! WTF is he talking about?
Justice Alito authored the dissent, it is well worth reading,
“The Court today holds that the Eighth Amendment categorically prohibits the imposition of the death penaltyfor the crime of raping a child. This is so, according to theCourt, no matter how young the child, no matter how many times the child is raped, no matter how many children the perpetrator rapes, no matter how sadistic thecrime, no matter how much physical or psychological trauma is inflicted, and no matter how heinous the perpetrator’s prior criminal record may be. The Court providestwo reasons for this sweeping conclusion: First, the Courtclaims to have identified “a national consensus” that the death penalty is never acceptable for the rape of a child;second, the Court concludes, based on its “independent judgment,” that imposing the death penalty for child rape is inconsistent with “‘the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.’” Ante, at 8, 15, 16 (citation omitted). Because neither of these justifications is sound, I respectfully dissent….
…In summary, the Court holds that the Eighth Amendment categorically rules out the death penalty in even the most extreme cases of child rape even though: (1) This holding is not supported by the original meaning of the Eighth Amendment; (2) neither Coker nor any other prior precedent commands this result; (3) there are no reliable”objective indicia” of a “national consensus” in support ofthe Court’s position; (4) sustaining the constitutionality ofthe state law before us would not “extend” or “expand” the death penalty; (5) this Court has previously rejected the proposition that the Eighth Amendment is a one-way ratchet that prohibits legislatures from adopting new capital punishment statutes to meet new problems; (6) theworst child rapists exhibit the epitome of moral depravity; and (7) child rape inflicts grievous injury on victims andon society in general.”
Read the court’s ruling to see just how savage this rape of a child was. Justice Kennedy and the rest of the liberals on the court think that the man who did this does not deserve to die via lethal injection? Lethal injection? They are concerned with his “dignity”. I won’t say what he trully deserves. The idea that lethal injection is “cruel” punishment for a human being who would violently rape a young child is about the most outrageous thing I have ever read.
It’s as crazy as giving Kahlid Sheik Mohammed the same rights that you and I have. Oh yeah, Justice Kennedy did that too.
John McCain is CRAZY if he doesn’t make the court a major campaign issue, starting tonight. Go on TV and read this decision, then ask the American people if they want more of this nonsense, or less.
UPDATE: Obama knows this is bad news for him, so he comes out against yesterday’s ruling, as does McCain.
“I have said repeatedly that I think that the death penalty should be applied in very narrow circumstances for the most egregious of crimes,” Obama said at a news conference. “I think that the rape of a small child, 6 or 8 years old, is a heinous crime and if a state makes a decision that under narrow, limited, well-defined circumstances the death penalty is at least potentially applicable, that that does not violate our Constitution.”
Obama’s Republican rival, John McCain, also criticized the court’s decision, calling it “an assault on law enforcement’s efforts to punish these heinous felons for the most despicable crime.”
“That there is a judge anywhere in America who does not believe that the rape of a child represents the most heinous of crimes, which is deserving of the most serious of punishments, is profoundly disturbing,” McCain said in a statement.
Ronald Reagan gave us Justice Anthony Kennedy, proving once and for all that Supreme Court justices are like a box of chocolates. That being said, Powerline’s John Hinderaker is correct,
Even Barack Obama couldn’t stomach this one, in an election year. But that’s only a ruse: bad as Republican appointees have often been, any Justice appointed by Obama would be selected precisely for his eagerness to impose his liberal views on “unenlightened” voters.