[xzins]

I agree with you. Consensus should mean nothing to the interpretation of the constitution...if it did, pornography would be illegal. My only point was that the word "consensus" would be able to be used with 60% agreement on something.

However, this is not a nation that governs on consensus. It governs by Constitution.

I don't believe there's any way to declare the death penalty unususal, because it is specifically addressed in the Constitution. That is why "unusual" had to be some kind of sophistry trying to make a distinction for "youth."

[Brilliant]

The SCt has already declared the death penalty "cruel." The only thing that prevents them from throwing it out altogether is their conclusion that it's not "unusual" and that the Constitution requires that it be both in order to be unConstitutional. This decision is just another effort by the liberals on the Court to set up a future decision declaring the entire thing unConstitutional. The decision stands for the proposition that if only 19 states allow the death penalty, then it's "unusual" and hence unConstitutional. It's just a matter of time before they play that card.