Alito Sides With Mo. Inmate on Death-Row (Retread troll denied stay of execution)

BREITBART.COM ^ | 02/02/06 | GINA HOLLAND

[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.

[BigSkyFreeper]

His counsel is an idiot. Playing the race card? C'mon!

[PBRSTREETGANG]

I think voting to uphold the appeals court's stay on his first day on the job is being cautious not liberal.

I hope that's the case. I do agree that it's too early to make an evaluation.

(Although I must admit it gave me pause to see him against Roberts, Scalia and Thomas right out of the box.)

[johnny7]

That's what you call a pathetic, first-at-bat. Lets hope it's just opening-day jitters.

[libbylu]

see my post 35 above.....
i won't be back, you guys go ahead and be idiots......
IF SCOTUS GAVE STAYS TO 2 GUYS IN FLORIDA LAST WEEK, WELL IT WOULD BE STUPID OF THEM NOT TO GIVE ONE TO THIS DUDE. I DON'T BELIEVE LEATHAL BE RULED CRUEL AND UNUSUAL, BUT THAT'S THE AMERICAN PROCESS, LIKE IT OR NOT.

of course this means alito is just like gingsberg/sc

[DustyMoment]

I'm disappointed when I see FReepers jump to conclusions- kinda like knee-jerk liberals.

I strongly disagree. Justice Alito had 3 choices before him, yesterday: he could vote on the side of staying the execution, vote on the side of justice, or recuse himself because he hadn't had time to become familiar with the arguments in the case.

So, for his very first vote ever, the man we were assured is a careful, thoughtful, brilliant jurist and decision-maker, votes in favor of a murderer - NOT the victim and definitely NOT the law that he claimed to uphold in his hearing.

Being his first vote, he has established a precedent that will follow him for the rest of his judicial career - we will all remember that he sided with the left the very first time he got a chance to voice an opinion as a Supreme Court justice. This is NOT evidence of a brilliant mind and decision-maker; instead, it is disappointing evidence tht Alito played us all and has the decision-making skills of a 5th grader. It would have been better had he recused himself than come down on the side of a convicted murderer seeking ANY idiotic excuse to avoid having done to him (in a kinder and gentler way), than he did to his victim. Where was his victim's appeal on the grounds that his death was Unconstitutional because it was "cruel and unusual"?

The bashing Alito is getting here this morning is well-earned. Conservatives got snookered.

[Iconoclast2]

Does anyone here really believe that there is a serious Constitutional question as to whether lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment? As opposed to hanging, or the firing squad, or anything else routinely used when the Constitution was drafted?

The guy pleaded guilty, for God's sake. A good conservative judge would not meddle in state criminal affairs on these facts. This is definitely evidence, albeit not conclusive, that Bush HAS screwed conservatives again.

[RangerM]

Just as I won't lament this development, so should the libs NOT celebrate it. One case does not make a 30 year legacy.

In the case of "cruel and unusual", it is not hard to see why this is important. Once this is decided, presumably in the "not cruel and unusual" direction, then EVERY state that has a death penalty will be free to use it when their preferred method (hanging, firing squad, etc.) is challenged. I see it as a way to streamline things ultimately, but I admit I am a bit "closer to the fence" on the question of the death penalty than many.

[Supernatural]

There is no more humane way to be put to death than lethal injection. Alito should know that by now.

Sandra Day O'Conner was supposed to be a conservative too. Remember what she turned out to be?

[Always Right]

Here's a good article: Alito's Record: Upholding executions, but not in every case.

I would call that a stellar record, not a mixed record. Alito makes sure the case was ruled correctly and the defendant given all reasonable appeals before allowing the killer to be put to death. Alito does not interfere in the process unless there is a problem.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

(Although I must admit it gave me pause to see him against Roberts, Scalia and Thomas right out of the box.)

I agree it was unsettling to hear this on tv news. Who would have thought that he wouldn't side with Roberts, Scalia, and Thomas on his first decision?

[Always Right]

The guy pleaded guilty, for God's sake. A good conservative judge would not meddle in state criminal affairs on these facts. This is definitely evidence, albeit not conclusive, that Bush HAS screwed conservatives again.

The details of this case are way to sketchy and the articles on this story are conficting. I would not draw any conclusions on this. Too many people are too willing to jump the gun.

[Redleg Duke]

This is the MSM trying to create news. The vote was unanimous. This tells me that it is a procedural vote, not a pass on the death penalty.

Just the MSM knowing that they can get some satisfying knee-jerk reactions from the conservative "purists" who expect everything that the President does not to measure up to their expectations.

[Redleg Duke]

Yeah, this guy is one of the MSM and RAT's favorite targets...always willing to believe the negative.

[Always Right]

I agree it was unsettling to hear this on tv news. Who would have thought that he wouldn't side with Roberts, Scalia, and Thomas on his first decision?

This was not a definitive ruling, just one of dozens of appeals. The guy will be put to death, just not immediately. Alito is cautious in death penalty cases, but has not shown any indication that he is anti-death penalty. Alito just makes sure the state did their job before killing someone.

[trebb]

I agree - folks are making too much of it. It would have gone the same way even if he had voted with the conservatives, so his vote affected nothing except people's emotions. Plus, having not been fully engaged, it would seem reasonable that he would rather err on the side of life and let the game be played out.

[RangerM]

There is no more humane way to be put to death than lethal injection. Exactly, and being upheld by SCOTUS will (or should) get rid of the "cruel and unusual" argument, thus eliminating that tactic from the defendant's lawyers.

[AMHN]

I sure hope that nobody railing Alito has argued for strict constitutional interpretation; nor argued the fact that the founding fathers, in some form or another, had a belief in God - that would be hypocritical.

Why not reinstitute stoning for Adultery or crucifixion for blasphemy? Maybe we can see those as cruel and unusual, but not these last forms just yet.

How about when we can create life (and I'm not talking babies), and only then, can we destroy it.

Maybe, just maybe, Alito is being "truly" conservative. Maybe, just maybe, he is interpreting "rightly" the constitution. Maybe, just maybe, his desire to read into the constitution the right of the government to become as cruel as the criminal, to repay eye for eye, is not as "liberal" as many of us so called conservatives want to believe.

Maybe, just maybe, his notion of the sanctity of life extends beyond the womb, a notion of mercy that even the Pharisees and Sadducees might today wish they offered (for their sins were more or less; and they now have an eternity to contemplate).

For those railing Alito, I wonder if you’re feeling the same as the abortionist today, feeling let down by his appointment, because part of your right to “desanctify” life and lift yourself up to “play” god has been taken away.

Or is it just because he is not the puppet you thought he would be?

I pray for wisdom, not another exchange of “save the fetus” and kill everything else that disagrees with me. That kind of hypocrisy has given birth to euthanasia and every other form of playing god.

But I fear that the "conservative" party will be torn apart over sanctity of life for the living (albeit criminal), like the "liberal" party has been for those yet born.

For like the issue of abortion that started out as a seemingly "good" cause of saving the life of the mother, it quickly turned into a thirst for blood and way of life which today can only be quenched by partial-birth infanticide, Capital Punishment has degenerated into a thirst for retribution that overlooks unbiased law, mercy, truth, and the weightier matters of the law.

[Supernatural]

"it would seem reasonable that he would rather err on the side of life and let the game be played out".

Justice delayed is justice denied. Just how many decades should the family of the murdered 15 year old girl have to wait for justice?

"Game" is right.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Hope you're right...

[AntiGuv]

I have no problem with your characterization, except I would note that it puts Alito in the Kennedy/O'Connor camp rather than the Scalia/Thomas camp, insofar as this issue is concerned.