From what I understand there was a lot of court activity today. Someone wiser will help spell it out for us.
He's growing in office.
That was quick.
Picture of the inmate?
Even if it was not 9-0 and even if he opposed Roberts, Scalia, and Thomas he still did the right thing. Alito has been on the court for less than 24 hours and he got this case of execution stay that was supposed to expire today. He cannot just go ahead and say yep go ahead and execute the guy without reviewing the case. He needs few days to review it in order to make a sound judgment and this tell a lot about his great demeanour and fairness.
I don't think that the writer meant split with conservatives on the court, I think that he meant split with conservative voters.
There are four stories out there and none of them agree on the facts. This one seems to have the most different.
"He was expected to side with prosecutors more often than O'Connor, although as an appeals court judge, his record in death penalty cases was mixed."
Maybe his Catholicism came into play. The AP seems to be trying to make this non-story a story.
Has the MSM been reporting it wrong all day. It's been reported that the vote was 9-0. Who's correct?
Wplained in the article posted here.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1569812/posts
... Taylor's legal team had pursued two challenges — claiming that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment and that his constitutional rights were violated by a system tilted against black defendants.
Getting the needle as unusual punishment? So have other death row inmates make this claim in the past?
Constitutional rights violated? I don't think so here. The crack-head pleaded guilty.
This was a second decision apparently.
I don't know what all is going on with this case, but I would not be concerned about Alito on this really. I read it as Alito just not feeling comfortable with saying go ahead and kill a guy whose case he had not read.
When the case reaches the SCOTUS (just in an appeals court presently), I am sure he will agree with the conservatives and hopefully Kennedy that lethal injection is NOT cruel and unusual punishment.
The media is trying to mess with Republicans. Get them upset for an election year and hope they won't show at the polls.
Below is Charles' great post on what happened:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1569856/posts?page=69#69
Missouri appealed a stay of the execution, which was set to expire anyway this afternoon. Earlier today, the court ruled 9-0 to NOT lift that stay, which then ended on its own on the original schedule.
Meanwhile, the convict had two appeals working up through the courts for a stay of execution for other reasons. In the first, he claimed his death sentence was racist. The court WITHOUT alito ruled 8-0 NOT to grant the stay.
In the second, he claimed that lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment. Alito heard that request, and then the court voted 5-4 to UPHOLD that request, thus putting the execution on hold.
So, there were THREE votes today, one on a Missouri request (denied 8-0), one on a convict request to stay based on racism (denied 9-0), and one on the convict request to stay based on 8th amendment (accepted 5-4).
Apparently the court has a couple of these 8th amendment appeals about lethal injections wending their way, and I guess Alito thinks it's worth hearing the argument (or at least letting a lower court decide whether to hear the argument).
Anyway, I hope this clears up the confusion.
There were multiple actions taken by the Court today on this case. I believe at least four orders of some kind were issued. They'll be entered at the Supreme Court website by tomorrow.
A lot of people are saying that Alito voted this way because he was unfamiliar with the case. If so, then he should have recused himself as he did in the Rutherford actions (also related to the death penalty).
A more likely explanation is that Alito's very mixed record on capital punishment in the lower courts is not a fluke, and that he actually does side with the merits of letting the inmate's case go forward.
Or maybe he will emerge as an opponent of capital punishment. After all, wasn't the implicit notion that he would rule according to his Catholic faith thought to be a positive? The Roman Catholic Church is adamantly opposed to capital punishment.
Alito Splits With Conservatives on InmateIdiocy on parade.
Press idiocy.
And they suck in a lot of non-critical thinkers with such a 'catchy' title like that too.
I don't trust the medias interpretation of anything a conservative does. Period. The reporters don't understand the underlying legal or political issues usually and are always trying to frame the story to make it look like a problem for the GOP regardless of whether it makes sense or not. And I don't believe quotes of Republicans unless I see them myself.
Here are a couple of more stories on this case:
Case Facts: After using drugs, Roderick Nunley and Michael Taylor stole a car. While driving the car, the two men spotted a fifteen-year old girl waiting for her school bus. Taylor allegedly stated he wanted to steal the girl’s purse, and Nunley, who was driving, stopped the car. Taylor spoke to the girl and then grabbed her and forced her into the car. Nunley then drove to his mother’s house. The girl was taken out of the car and forced to crawl down to the basement. Taylor then raped the girl. At some point, Nunley gave Taylor some lubricant to facilitate the forced sexual intercourse. After the assault, the two men forced the girl into the trunk of the stolen car and tied her up. After Taylor stated he was afraid the girl would identify him, the two men decided to kill the girl. Nunley retrieved two knives from the kitchen and both men stabbed the girl. Nunley knew the girl was going to die from her wounds. (The former county medical examiner testified the victim was stabbed ten times and she died approximately thirty minutes later.) The men drove to a nearby neighborhood and parked the car, leaving the girl in the trunk. Nunley gave a videotaped confession to the police.-----------
POTOSI, Mo. -- A high-ranking official at the Potosi Correctional Center was hospitalized after being stabbed by a convicted murderer, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections said Monday.The victim's name and condition were not released, but spokeswoman Wanda Seeney said the victim is a unit manager, the No. 3 person at the prison about 70 miles southwest of St. Louis. He was hospitalized in St. Louis with several stab wounds. KMBC reported that the prison official was listed in stable condition Monday night.
The stabbing happened about 8:45 a.m. Monday. Seeney said the circumstances surrounding the incident were not immediately clear. Also uncertain was what weapon the inmate used to commit the crime.
The suspect is Roderick Nunley, who is on death row for a conviction out of Jackson County for first-degree murder, rape, kidnapping and armed criminal action. Nunley was convicted of killing 15-year-old Ann Harrison in 1989. Harrison was kidnapped from in front of her Kansas City home as she waited for the school bus, leaving her books and band instrument behind.
Since the stabbing, Nunley has been placed in a segregated confinement unit at the prison.
The inmate apparently acted alone, Seeney said. Still, prison officials suspended movement at the institution.
The Potosi Correctional Center is one of the state's maximum security prison and houses all of Missouri's Death Row inmates, in addition to others who have committed violent crimes.
I'd write this off as a case of the "yips".
Nobody wants his first day on the Supreme Court remembered as the day he signed off on somebody's execution - unless, of course, it was Ted Kennedy's execution being discussed.
He'll settle in with the rest of the conservatives soon enough.
But you know Drudge....he just loves stirring the bees.
I think we should all remember the credentials of Alito. His history of careful consideration was one of them. I think he wanted and needed time to review this case and voted on the side of life until then.
I'm sure that most people would not have looked favorable on a decision that would have resulted in a rush to death.