Kennedy v Louisiana: Abolishing Death Penalty for Treason Next Up for Supreme Court

THE LAW OF INTENDED CONSEQUENCES





The Constitution Of The United States. Article III, Section 3.

Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.

The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.

US CODE: Title 18-2381. Treason

§ 2381. Treason

Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.

In his old age, Justice Kennedy has become a preening, legal songbird. Through the imprecations and stroking of the committed left on the court--ranging from the idiot, Souter, who is incapable of writing an intelligible legal thought; to the bizarre Ginsburg, who advocates the elimination of consent and equally repellent ideas (but whom has never identified a civil right that did not need her manipulation)--Justice Kennedy has become the pointman for the reconstruction of American law in a form more preferable to the left.

Every decision is focused on the objective of forwarding a political agenda, regardless of the cost to individual and fairness. We see this same ideological drive in KENNEDY v. LOUISIANNA, the recent case wherein the Supreme Court decided that the death penalty was disproportionate to the violent and vicious rape of an 8-year-old girl by a grown man. The enunciated new standard is that the death sentence is only applicable when a death of the victim occurs.

In the decision, the Court made in somewhat clear that they were not deciding the issue as crimes against the State.
" We do not address, for example, crimes defining and punishing treason, espionage, terrorism, and drug king-pin activity.."

But is this true?

It is not.

The Court has clearly laid the groundwork for the next Court to strike down the death penalty for such crimes. Treason is the 'first' crime in America. Laid out in The Constitution, which clearly and unequivocally states that Congress can stipulate any penalty whatsoever. The thought that Congress could be second guessed by the Court clearly never entered the minds of the drafters.

It is noteworthy that Article III is the very Article that establishes the Court and therefore the framers put the Court and the crime of Treason on an equal plane.

BUT buried in the KENNEDY decision is this gem:
" The Court, for example, has acknowledged that the requirement of general rules to ensure consistency of treatment and the insistence that capital sentencing be individualized have resulted in tension and imprecision. This approach might be sound with respect to capital murder, but it should not be introduced into the justice system when murder has not occurred".

This along with the Court's new standard of rarity of application of the death penalty(if it rarely done for a crime, them it must be because it is wrong for that crime) dooms capital punishment for treason , espionage, mailing injurious materials with intent to harm or murder, bank robbery-kidnapping, terrorism per se,and drug king-pin activity where the victims cannot be specifically determined to have been intentionally murdered by the accused. Because there, the Court is basically saying that the appellate protocol for death row inmates must not be extended where there is no death.

And that is what the left wants.

Because treason, espionage, terrorism have no meaning to them: America is the perpetrator of such crimes.

by pat
images:
* my pet jawa: adam gadahn
sources
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articleiii.html#section3
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/854737/Kennedy-VS-Louisiana-Supreme-Court-Opinion-and-Dissent
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00002381----000-.html
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=29&did=192

Today in History: December 18, 2007

WAR!, TERRORISM, CULTURE, SCANDAL, DEATH PENALTY, CIVIL RIGHTS, SCIENCE, NANNY STATE, POLITICS, IMMIGRATION, SERIAL KILLERS

WAR!

In 1940, Adolf Hitler signed a secret directive ordering preparations for a Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. (Operation Barbarossa was launched in June 1941.)

1916 - During World War I, after 10 months of fighting the French defeated the Germans in the Battle of Verdun.

In 1944, in a pair of rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the wartime relocation of Japanese-Americans (Korematsu v. United States), but also said undeniably loyal Americans of Japanese ancestry could not continue to be detained (Ex parte Endo).

1950 - NATO foreign ministers approved plans to defend Western Europe, including the use of nuclear weapons, if necessary.

In 1972, the United States began heavy bombing of North Vietnamese targets during the Vietnam War. (The bombardment ended 11 days later.)

1998 - Russia recalled its U.S. ambassador in protest of the U.S. attacks on Iraq.


POLITICS

1787 - New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

TERRORISM

1973 - The IRA launched its Christmas bombing campaign in London.

CIVIL RIGHTS

In 1865, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, was declared in effect.

IMMIGRATION

1912 - The U.S. Congress prohibited the immigration of illiterate persons.

SCANDAL

1987 - Ivan F. Boesky was sentenced to three years in prison for plotting Wall Street's biggest insider-trading scandal. He only served about two years of the sentence.

1998 - The U.S. House of Representatives began the debate on the four articles of impeachment concerning U.S. President Bill Clinton. It was only the second time in U.S. history that process had begun.

DISCOVERY!

In 1620, passengers from the Mayflower came ashore near Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts

CULTURE

In 1957, the World War II epic "The Bridge on the River Kwai" opened in New York.

NANNY STATE

1917 - The Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Congress. It banned the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcohol.

2001 - Mark Oliver Gebel, a Ringling Bros. Circus star, went on trial for animal abuse. The charges stemmed from an incident with an elephant that was marching too slowly into a circus performance on August 25, 2001. He was acquitted on December 21, 2001.

DEATH PENALTY

1969 - Britain's Parliament abolished the death penalty for murder.

1998 - South Carolina proceeded with the U.S.' 500th execution since capital punishment was restored.

SERIAL KILLERS

2001 - In Seattle, WA, Gary Leon Ridgeway pled innocent to the charge of murder for four of the Green River serial killings. He had been arrested on November 30, 2001.

SCIENCE

1912 - The discovery of the Piltdown Man in East Sussex was announced. It was proved to be a hoax in 1953.

DEATH

In 1980, former Soviet Premier Alexei N. Kosygin died at age 76.


Dec. 18, the 352nd day of 2007. There are 13 days left in the year.


compiled by Mondoreb
[image:centuryofflight.freeola]
Sources: Today in History
Today in History: December 17, 2007



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Today in History: December 15, 2007

Politics, War!, Terrorism, Civil Rights, Culture, Death Penalty, Science, Death, Birthdays

POLITICS

On Dec. 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights went into effect following ratification by Virginia.

TERRORISM

In 1979, the deposed Shah of Iran left the United States for Panama, the same day the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that Iran should release all its American hostages.

WAR!

In 1944, during World War II, American forces invaded Mindoro Island in the Philippines.

In 2006, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld bid farewell to the Pentagon in a splashy sendoff featuring lavish praise from President Bush.

DEATH PENALTY

In 1961, former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death by an Israeli court.

In 2006, Gov. Jeb Bush suspended Florida executions two days after the prolonged death of a condemned inmate because the needles had been wrongly inserted.

In 2006, in San Francisco, a federal judge declared California's lethal-injection procedure unconstitutional.

CIVIL RIGHTS

In 1997, over Republican objections, President Clinton appointed Bill Lann Lee acting assistant attorney general for civil rights.

SCIENCE

In 1965, two U.S. manned spacecraft, Gemini 6A and Gemini 7, maneuvered to within 10 feet of each other while in orbit.


CULTURE

In 1938, groundbreaking ceremonies for the Jefferson Memorial took place in Washington, D.C.

In 1939, the motion picture "Gone With the Wind" had its world premiere in Atlanta.

DEATH

In 1890, Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull and 11 other tribe members were killed in Grand River, S.D., during a confrontation with Indian police.

In 1944, a single-engine plane carrying bandleader Glenn Miller, who was a major in the U.S. Army Air Forces, disappeared over the English Channel while en route to Paris.

In 1966, movie producer Walt Disney died in Los Angeles at age 65.

BIRTHDAYS

Today's Birthdays: Country singer Ernest Ashworth is 79. Actor-comedian Tim Conway is 74. Singer Cindy Birdsong (The Supremes) is 68. Rock musician Dave Clark (The Dave Clark Five) is 65. Rock musician Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge) is 61. Actor Don Johnson is 58. Movie director Julie Taymor is 55. Movie director Alex Cox is 53. Actor Justin Ross is 53. Rock musician Paul Simonon (The Clash) is 52. Country singer Doug Phelps (Brother Phelps; Kentucky Headhunters) is 47. Movie director Reginald Hudlin is 46. Actress Helen Slater is 44. Actress Molly Price is 42. "Crowd-hyper" Kito Trawick (Ghostown DJs) is 30. Actor Adam Brody is 28. Actor George O. Gore II is 26.

Dec. 15, the 349th day of 2007. There are 16 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
[image:
Source: Today in History: December 15, 2007



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

New Jersey Lawmakers Abolish Death Penalty, Look Toward Legacy

New Jersey joins Venezuela and Serbia

New Jersey's Tourism Bureau claims, "Great Destinations in Any Direction".

An updated slogan might be, "Casinos, the Sopranos and a Death-free Crime Career--What's Not to Like!"

New Jersey teeters on the brink of history--or something.

New Jersey Sen. Robert Martin is mindful of history.

"One hundred years from now I hope we will be remembered for having had the courage to be leaders in advancing this cause for a more civilized society," said Martin, R-Morris.

The cause: Abolishing the death penalty.

Time was, only presidents wondered about their legacies.

Now it seems, New Jersey lawmakers from Morris, NJ are eying a place in the history books.

The New Jersey is poised to give final legislative approval on Thursday to abolishing the death penalty, becoming the first state to do so since 1965 when Iowa and West Virginia abolished it.

The state Senate approved the bill Monday; The Assembly will vote Thursday and is expected to pass it. Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said he'll sign the bill.

AGAINST DEATH PENALTY

"I hope New Jersey will give encouragement to other legislators and public officials to have the courage to face this issue squarely," said Joshua Rubenstein, Amnesty International USA's northeast director.

Diann Rust-Tierney, executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said New Jersey reflects a growing national trend against the death penalty, with executions in decline and more states weighing abolition.

"We have learned a lot about the death penalty in the past 30 years," Rust-Tierney said. "When you look closely at the facts, it just doesn't add up to sound policy."

FOR DEATH PENALTY

"Some people deserve to die and we have an obligation to execute them," said New York Law School professor Robert Blecker, a national death penalty supporter who has been lobbying New Jersey lawmakers against abolition.

"On July 24th, Riley Sawyers had no one to plead for her life. The one person who could have, should have protected her was her mother, Kimberly Trenor. Now Kimberly sits in Galveston County Jail, her fate resting in the hands of a future jury."

"The jury little Riley Sawyers never had."
--DBKP's Little Baby Ginn, on the advantages the accused murderers of 2-year-old Riley Sawyers will have in facing the death penalty. Riley was brutally beaten for six hours until she died. Her body was stashed in a storage building for a month, then dumped into Galveston Bay.

DEATH PENALTY FACTS and FIGURES

_1,099 people have been executed in the United States since the U.S. Supreme Court permitted executions to resume in 1976.

_ The most executions _ 98 _ occurred in 1999.

_ 42 people have been executed this year and 53 in 2006.

_ Of those executed, 929 were by lethal injection, 154 electrocution, 11 the gas chamber, three hanging and two firing squad.

_ New Jersey would be the first state to abolish the death penalty since Iowa and West Virginia did so in 1965.

_ 37 states have the death penalty.

_ New Jersey has eight men on death row, but hasn't executed anyone since 1963.

_ The daily routine on New Jersey's death row involves 6:30 a.m. awakenings, daily recreation periods, 11 a.m. lunches, 15-minute showers, two phone calls, dinner around 4 p.m., visits from immediate family members between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. lock-ins, although there's no official lights out. Inmates clean and mop their cells and the unit on Fridays.

_ Ralph J. Hudson of Atlantic City was the last person executed in New Jersey. He was electrocuted in Jan. 22, 1963, for the stabbing death of his wife.

_ Since 1973 more than 120 people have been released from death row in other states with evidence of their innocence.

Death penalty opponents hope the abolition will "inspire others". Other New Jersey actions provide a different inspiration.

...in a report released by Rutgers University's Prudential Business Ethics Center that, along with a survey by a top business group, painted a grim picture Wednesday for New Jersey businesses.

The center's report deemed government corruption a leading threat to the state economy as the New Jersey Business & Industry Association's survey found half of 1,300 businesses are glum about the state's business climate.

The Rutgers report surveyed more than 50 business leaders and found most want stronger laws limiting campaign contributions from government contractors.

Is it gauche to remark that New Jersey lawmakers may have had more than one motivation in the death penalty abolition? No known instance was turned up of a NJ pol being executed.

Before DBKP gets taken to task for linking the abolition of the death penalty and a state culture of corruption, we'll comment: we're not.

We're just presenting the latest examples of the "New Jersey state of mind".

Both are a part of history.

by Mondoreb
[image: deathpenaltyinfo]
Sources:
Death Penalty Foes Hope NJ Inspires Others to Follow Suit
Death Penalty Facts and Figures
Report Examines NJ Corruption
Travel New Jersey



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Castillo Execution Stopped: ACLU's Last Minute Stays of Execution are Cruel and Unusal, Not Lethal Injection

[photo:CNN]Death Penalty Opposition Gives ACLU It's Only Chance to Speak Up For Life

by Mondoreb
The ACLU stopped a killer's execution, 90 minutes before he was set to die amid arguments from death penalty opponents that the state should wait until the U.S. Supreme Court reviews the constitutionality of lethal injections. Was it lethal injection or the last minute stay that was cruel and unusal?

The ACLU won't speak up for the unborn nor the comatose. But if you've beaten an old lady to death with a tire tool, their voice is deafening. "All-Death, All-the-time", ceases to be their slogan when it comes to the capital punishment of convicted killers.

From CNN:

CARSON CITY, Nevada (AP) -- A killer's execution was halted 90 minutes before he was set to die amid arguments from death penalty opponents that the state should wait until the U.S. Supreme Court reviews the constitutionality of lethal injections.
The Nevada Supreme Court issued the last-minute stay Monday for William Castillo, who beat an elderly woman to death with a tire iron.

Castillo, 34, had declined to file appeals of his own and prison officials have said he was ready to die. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada appealed to halt any executions in the state.

The same organization works relentlesly to keep America free of any symbols of higher moral authority other than the ACLU. Killers are not the threat but killing the killers is.

Lee Rowland, one of the ACLU lawyers who argued the case Monday before the Supreme Court, welcomed the decision, which was signed by all seven justices.

"Clearly, this was the right thing to do, legally and morally," she said. "We are heartened that this decision will bring Nevada in line with the rest of the country, which has decided to await guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court."

Whether the ACLU admits it or not, lethal injection is not cruel and unusual; stays of execution 90 minutes before a convicted killer is ready to die are.



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