Posted on 02/02/2006 1:54:21 AM PST by Bullitt
New Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito split with the court's conservatives Wednesday night, refusing to let Missouri execute a death-row inmate contesting lethal injection.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
A more likely speculation is that Alito's mixed record on death penalty cases in the lower courts was not a fluke.
Yep. That's where I've drawn my conclusion.
I am not saying this is the case, by any stretch, but it would be ironic if Roberts turns out to be a staunch conservative and Alito turns out to be a wishy-washy moderate.
I won't base my opinion of Alito on one single case, but the fact he's had a mixed record on death penalties in the 3rd Circuit is inescapable.
So, what's his tendency?
He certainly isn't going to rule against the death penalty wall-to-wall on the grounds appealed by the murderer's counsel. He'd have to be a doctrinaire liberal who gets his guidance from French newspapers: spare the murderers, euthanize the innocent elderly and incubating young.
But, I can't help notice that this repugnant killer scum's counsel decided to ram this through on Alito's first day. This story it seems to me was designed to set conservative's hair on fire over Alito. I guess it worked.
Alito may have voted this way, just to make a point to the left that he isn't a "racist." Or it could be that he didn't feel he could get up to speed on the case that quick, so his vote was on the side of caution. Let't wait and see how he votes on the actual case. This was just an vote to hear the case.
"An appeals court will now review Taylor's claim that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment, a claim also used by two Florida death-row inmates that won stays from the Supreme Court over the past week. The court has agreed to use one of the cases to clarify how inmates may bring last-minute challenges to the way they will be put to death."
One of these will be used to settle the question before the SC eventually.
Governor Bush was speaking about the just yesterday here in Florida. He was angry about the issue being swept off the table by Anti-Justice activists without placing the issue before the voters. Good approach IMHO. People are sick of liberals attempting to circumvent the will of the people.
But yeah, on hold for a while as justice waits...
(groan) What is it with these "rock-solid" conservative judges?? Kennedy, Kerry, Biden and Leahy must be celebrating and feeling foolish over their attempts at smearing Alito. Sandra Day O'Conner didn't retire, she just put on a pair of pants and cut her hair.
This is NOT an auspicious beginning to Alito's career on the Supreme Court. In the future, we should demand a 90 day probation period for future federal judge appointees and a term limit of 10 years, renewable up to 3 times.
If Taylor and others claim that lethal injection is cruel and unusual, maybe they would prefer the electric chair, hanging, or a firing squad.
I agree. If Alito thinks that lethal injection might be "cruel and unusual" then he likely is against the death penalty period. This doesn't bode well for law and order.
The most important line from the article
"Alito, handling his first case, sided with inmate Michael Taylor, who had won a stay from an appeals court earlier in the evening."
I think voting to uphold the appeals court's stay on his first day on the job is being cautious not liberal. He needs to get his clerks and himself up to speed. Additionally, he is invoking stare decis which in this case the court has within the last week blocked executions on similar grounds pending disposition.
Hopefully, the delay in these cases will allow the conservatives to speed up future executions and put the smack down on these challenges.
there are 2 deah row in florida that have been stayed by SCOTUS in the last week or so. Why would you let one in another state die if it's for a very similar reason (leathal injection cruel and unusual here).
Personally i don't think it's cruel and unusual, and i doubt the scotus does in the end.....
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss".
First thing Alito does is side with the liberals. How many days has he been a member of the Supreme Court now? One? That didn't take long, now did it?
Have we been snookered again, like with Sandra Day O'Conner?
BINGO! That was my first thought as well. He just got there- hardly had time to have his robes fitted.
I'm disappointed when I see FReepers jump to conclusions- kinda like knee-jerk liberals.
Huh? Missouri was seeking to execute the guy at midnight. I think his counsel would've been a little remiss if they'd waited a day.
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