Kennedy v. Louisiana Take II

The United States Supreme Court "affirmed" its decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana earlier this week by refusing to rehear the case. As you may recall, the Kennedy case reviewed the constitutionality of executing someone who was "only" guilty of child rape and had not also committed a related murder. The Supreme Court found such executions unconstitutional during its last session. It now upholds that decision. You can read about the update on CNN here.

I despise child rape with everything in my core and, in some cases, I believe its punishment should equal that of many forms of murder. Still, as you know, I vehemently oppose the death penalty. I believe the death penalty should be abolished. As such, I am pleased with the Court's decision in this case. It will make fewer individuals eligible for State murder, and the fewer murders the State commits, the better.

Kennedy v. Louisiana

I don't have time to comment (darn meetings!), but the United States Supreme Court ruled today (5-4) that it is unconstitutional to execute someone for a child rape where the child was not murdered. Although no one has been executed in the US for a crime other than murder in many years, there were two men on death row in Louisiana awaiting execution for rape of a child. Additionally, this clears the laws for other states and will prevent future executions.

Here is a link to an article from the NY Times.