WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday amended but let stand its June decision striking down the death penalty for child rapists. The court also added 10 cases to its docket for the new term, which starts Monday.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the five justices who were in the original majority in the child-rape case, said a recent federal law, which had been overlooked by the parties and the court, did not alter the court’s analysis. The law, a 2006 amendment to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, specifically made child rape committed by military personnel a capital crime.
The law arguably undermined a premise of the original decision, which said there was no national consensus favoring the death penalty for the rape of a child. The decision in June noted that only six states permitted the punishment for that crime.
On Wednesday, Justice Kennedy wrote that the 2006 amendment merely tinkered with a statute that had long authorized capital punishment for the rapes of both adults and children. He added that “authorization of the death penalty in the military sphere does not indicate that the penalty is constitutional in the civilian context.”
Justice Kennedy acknowledged that the last time the military imposed the death penalty, in 1961, it was for rape and attempted murder. He did not say that the victim had been an 11-year-old girl. The defendant in the case before the court, Patrick Kennedy, had been convicted of raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter.
Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., also voted not to rehear the case, but on a different ground. Justice Scalia called the original decision disingenuous and suggested that nothing would change it. “The views of the American people on the death penalty for child rape were, to tell the truth, irrelevant to the majority’s decision in this case,” he wrote.
“Let there be no doubt,” he added, that the recent law “utterly destroys the majority’s claim to be discerning a national consensus and not just giving effect to the majority’s own preference.”
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., who like Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Scalia dissented from the June decision, voted to rehear the case, Kennedy v. Louisiana, No. 07-343, but they did not offer reasons.
To take account of the recent federal law, the court added two footnotes and six words to the majority and dissenting opinions. The new footnote to the majority decision acknowledged the law and said, “We find that the military penalty does not affect our reasoning or conclusions.”
The court also agreed to hear 10 of roughly 2,000 appeals that had accumulated over its summer break. It took no action in the case of Troy A. Davis, a death row inmate in Georgia whose claims of innocence are supported by several witnesses. The court granted a stay of execution in Mr. Davis’s case on Sept. 23, and it remains in effect.
Source: The New York Times, October 2nd, 2002
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the five justices who were in the original majority in the child-rape case, said a recent federal law, which had been overlooked by the parties and the court, did not alter the court’s analysis. The law, a 2006 amendment to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, specifically made child rape committed by military personnel a capital crime.
The law arguably undermined a premise of the original decision, which said there was no national consensus favoring the death penalty for the rape of a child. The decision in June noted that only six states permitted the punishment for that crime.
On Wednesday, Justice Kennedy wrote that the 2006 amendment merely tinkered with a statute that had long authorized capital punishment for the rapes of both adults and children. He added that “authorization of the death penalty in the military sphere does not indicate that the penalty is constitutional in the civilian context.”
Justice Kennedy acknowledged that the last time the military imposed the death penalty, in 1961, it was for rape and attempted murder. He did not say that the victim had been an 11-year-old girl. The defendant in the case before the court, Patrick Kennedy, had been convicted of raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter.
Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., also voted not to rehear the case, but on a different ground. Justice Scalia called the original decision disingenuous and suggested that nothing would change it. “The views of the American people on the death penalty for child rape were, to tell the truth, irrelevant to the majority’s decision in this case,” he wrote.
“Let there be no doubt,” he added, that the recent law “utterly destroys the majority’s claim to be discerning a national consensus and not just giving effect to the majority’s own preference.”
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., who like Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Scalia dissented from the June decision, voted to rehear the case, Kennedy v. Louisiana, No. 07-343, but they did not offer reasons.
To take account of the recent federal law, the court added two footnotes and six words to the majority and dissenting opinions. The new footnote to the majority decision acknowledged the law and said, “We find that the military penalty does not affect our reasoning or conclusions.”
The court also agreed to hear 10 of roughly 2,000 appeals that had accumulated over its summer break. It took no action in the case of Troy A. Davis, a death row inmate in Georgia whose claims of innocence are supported by several witnesses. The court granted a stay of execution in Mr. Davis’s case on Sept. 23, and it remains in effect.
Source: The New York Times, October 2nd, 2002
No comments:
Post a Comment