Posted on 03/23/2020 8:08:37 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that states can effectively eliminate the insanity defense for criminal defendants who suffer from mental illness.
The 6-3 ruling holds that a Kansas law preventing the exoneration of defendants who claim a diminished mental state is not unconstitutional.
In an unusual alignment for the bench, Justice Elena Kagan, considered among the more liberal justices, wrote the majority opinion and was joined by her five conservative colleagues. Three liberal justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented.
"Defining the precise relationship between criminal culpability and mental illness involves examining the workings of the brain, the purposes of the criminal law, the ideas of free will and responsibility," Kagan wrote. "It is a project demanding hard choices among values, in a context replete with uncertainty, even at a single moment in time. And it is a project, if any is, that should be open to revision over time, as new medical knowledge emerges and as legal and moral norms evolve.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
bringing back the guilty for reasons of insanity.
now to be able to punish them for the crimes.
Wait, didn't Roberts tell us that judges aren't liberal or conservative?
Does this app;y to Democrats? /sarc
Paging Chico Marx.
Lawyer: “Sorry Mickey, you can’t divorce Minnie because she’s crazy.”
Mickry: “I didn’t say she was crazy; I said she’s f**king Goofy.”
I cant name a single one of todays popular singers. But I caught your reference immediately.
more so than others.
Does this mean Hillary will no longer be able to plead, “But I’m a DEMOCRAT!”?
“The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that states can effectively eliminate the insanity defense for criminal defendants who suffer from mental illness”
BRAVO!!
Kagan in full “living constitution” mode.
Bad news for Joe Biden.
BALIFF: “You are hereby charged that, on the night of September 14th, you did willfully, with malice and forethought, sexually assault a 14 year old girl. How do you plead?”
LESLIE HORWINKLE: “Insanity”
BALIFF: “Insanity?”
LESLIE HORWINKLE: “That’s right, insanity....I’m just crazy about that girl...”
Kavanaugh and gorsuch were worth the hassle..
LOL - good one.
Erery-a-body knows, there ain’t no Sanity Claus!
In the short run this supreme court opinion might seem to be a plus for conservatism as we eliminate what we believe to be phoney insanity defenses.
However, in the long run this opinion may be the first line of attack on those of us who believe that people should be held responsible for their actions. This opinion, and those that follow, could cause us to empty prisons and replace them with rehab centers or even worse reeducation camps. We could start seeing something very similar to what was outlined in "A Clockwork Orange".
Chief Justice Penaltax says many dumb things.
Justice Kagan has joined the Conservative Justices in many cases where previously the Liberal Justices would be unified. Perhaps she is more reasonable than her fellow Liberal Justices.
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