Alito Votes to Stay Mo. Execution

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Eghad

New member
"Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito split with the court's conservatives in a death penalty case on his first full day on the court.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas supported lifting an execution stay issued by an appeals court, but Alito sided with the majority in turning down Missouri's last-minute request to allow a late night execution."

so does this qualify as a win for the Forrest Gump Box of Chocolates theory as applied to the Supreme Court?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060202/ap_on_go_su_co/alito_death_penalty_3
 
Yike !

I see myself (you might not) as very middle-of-the-road politically. I didn't much care for Alito.

But I didn't think I'd end up opposing him on the death penalty of all things. Particularly since he has taken the side of "cruel and unusual". I mean if the point being argued was related to possible innocence, well that's one thing. but he didn't argue he didn't do it. Just that he was too special to receive the same punishment he gave a 15 year old girl.

I'm trying to imagine how he could have killed anybody in a less cruel manner than first being put to sleep then poisoned while unconscious. I can't.

That means that whatever crime I want to commit, I can rely on Alito to agree with me that anything nearly as bad that's meted out as punishment is cruel and unusual.

Is the bank still open?
 
You never know what they gonna do once they get there.
Gotta give him an F for his first vote. [** deleted by Anti **]
 
Could someone help me? I'm not up on the latest Alito rhetoric. Is he a statist in Constitutionalist clothing who will support the state and rape the Constitution? Or is he a closet liberal who will side with criminals, etc.? Seems like people want it both ways.

What Alito did, apparently, was reject a state request to lift a stay imposed by an appeals court for the purposes of allowing the issue of whether or not lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th Amendment of the Constitution. Rather than siding with the criminal or the state, he sided with the Constitution.

So, who wants to lynch him for agreeing to have a Constitutional issue fully fleshed out?
 
Let's slow down just a bit.

I'm as suspicious of Alito as the next guy. But this news report is not giving all the facts. I don't have time to research them just now. Hopefully Antipitas or one of the other legal eagles here can.

But, from what I glean:
1) This death sentence was not for the charge of killing a 15 year old child; he received life for that. This sentence was for killing his cell mate. (Not really a big issue, except that it was incorrectly reported in the cited article.)

2) The charge of "cruel and unusual punishment" was not vis a vis the death sentence, but rather a claim that he had received incompetent defense from the State in violation of "cruel and unusual punishment".

3) The Missouri Appeals (Supreme?) Court granted the stay....presumably to allow time to hear a motion for retrial.

4) Alito, and 5 other jurists have upheld that State Supreme Court stay.

Now, I'm certain I'll be found incorrect on some of these fact (pressed for time, as I said), but let's not take the meager facts on the table and claim Alito is "anti-death penalty". It just makes us all look foolish.
Rich
 
He said in questioning before the idiot senators that he would vote just the way he did in this case.

If it's 4 to 4 between granting a stay or not he would grant the stay.

It's the exact opposite of Judicial Activism.


G
 
MSNBC which is very left wing, is already taking a poll about this vote. Their reporting and poll taking about Alito has been nothing short paranoid hysteria.

We need more facts.
 
Guys,

If I was just sworn in to the job earlier in the day, and my first case out of the gate was whether or not to grant a stay of execution (which the lower Court had already granted!) I would vote to uphold the stay too. Hell, he was probably still buzzing from all the champagne earlier in the day.

Cut the guy some slack. Give him a few months to a year before you jump the gun.
 
A personal thought, regardless of where I think Alito falls on the left-right spectrum.

His first day on the Court. I believe he is just being cautious. How much of this case does he really know? Coming from the appelate court, is he just being deferential?

Now to specifics. One day, two votes. To clarify: the first was a 9-0 vote on staying of execution so that the 8th Circuit could hear the defendants claim that the MO death penalty is racist. The second was the 6-3 vote on whether or not the method of execution was "cruel and unusual."

Earlier, the SCOTUS granted cert in a FL case (FL v. Hall [docket 05-8794]) wherein the claim was made that because of the combination of chemicals used in executions, that the subject was first rendered immobile but conscious, in extreme pain, while the final drug was administered and stopped his heart. Since the Court has agreed to hear this (Hall) on the basis that this may be cruel and unusual, should not have Alito been conservative enough to cast his vote in the manner he did, to preserve the Courts integrity? That the 8th agreed to the stay in the first place indicates that the 8th is relying upon what the SCOTUS will resolve with Hall.

It is, to me, a sensible solution. Further it provides clarity to the lower courts, since a similar case will be heard by the Court.

Now we know some of the particulars of Wednesdays decisions. None of this will tell us how Alito will rule on specific cases. I think we have to take a wait and see approach. To be blinded by media rhetoric when we don't know the facts is to be persuaded on entirely emotional grounds. Two votes on the same case, under procedural grounds, is not indicative of how Alito will fare.
 
I think anyone who is critical of this decision should first READ the application for the stay. After ytou do that, report back to us so we can all discusss in an educated fashion.

As for me, I'm way too busy to get my panties in a wad over a decision granting a stay absent abuse of discretion or total lack of legal foundation. If either are here, let me know.

WildeasysolutionAlaska
 
Why don't they OD death-row inmates on morphine or one of the stronger opiate derivatives? Oh, it takes too long? It might upset the schedules of relatives of the victims? Good grief. They've waited years in any case, what's a few more minutes?

Wild, don't be so reasonable. Everyone knows the death penalty is good, and therefore anyone who even thinks about delaying an execution is a communist sympathizer.
 
From the story originally referenced I quote:

"The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will now hear arguments from Taylor, who claims that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment. That claim also was used by two Florida death-row inmates who won stays from the Supreme Court over the past week."

Do I have to diagram these sentences?

Not having time to delve into relates stories, and not knowing anybody at the good offices of the Supreme Court to call for the "real story", I have to go by what I read here.

And the claim is that "lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment", whatever other legal mechanics are involved.

If you are claiming that you were inadequately represented, and that THAT is cruel and unusual punishment, then say that and leave out whether the method is.

Until I see something saying the issue was something else, I stick with what follows.

Imagine how you would go about killing a 15 year old girl. Think of the most gentle and polite way, now.

Now imagine (or recall) yourself having surgery. If you've been there, you KNOW that once you're out you don't feel anything. My experience is sodium pentothal and 4 wisdom teeth extraction. This is death by lethal injection except that in the latter case you don't wake up in pain.

How did your kindest and bestest way of killing that 15-year-old girl compare to just going to sleep?

Cruel and unusual indeed.
 
Alito was supposedly supremely qualified for his position. Now, if he is using his brain to disagree with someone, he is a dismal failure.

Maybe he understands the law better than some kneejerk dude on the internet.
 
BIGJACK, or anyone else: This thread is about Justice Alito and/or the Supreme Court as it relates to the new Justice. It is NOT about Bush.

Any more comments about or bashing of Bush in this thread will be deleted on sight.
 
Not having time to delve into relates stories, and not knowing anybody at the good offices of the Supreme Court to call for the "real story", I have to go by what I read here.
Click to expand...

Good. I'll look for you to be consistent then in providing topics for discussion in the future:viz:everything the newspaper says is accurate, truthful and shows the entire picture, complete with nuances:D

WildhoraaythetruthhasbeenfoundAlaska
 
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