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: January 2, 2008

WAR!, SPORTS, TERRORISM, TORTURE, POLITICS, ABOLITION, CENSURE, SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, DISASTER, MASSACRES, ALLIGATORS, CIVIL RIGHTS, TRIALS, MUSIC, RIOTS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, NANNY STATE, OVERDOSE, CAMELOT, CLIMATE CHANGE, JEWS, POPULATION, PROFESSIONAL WRESTING, BORN, DEATH, FINANCE



1839 1st photo of the Moon (French photographer Louis Daguerre).

WAR!

1492 Spain recaptures Granada from the Moors (Granada Day).

1570 Tsar Ivan the Terrible march to Novgorod begins.

1602 Spanish forces in Ireland surrender to the English at Kinsdale.

1757 British troops occupy Calcutta India.

1776 1st revolutionary flag displayed.

1861 SC seizes inactive Fort Johnson in Charleston Harbor.

1863 Battle of Murfreesboro (Stone's River) ends.

1896 Battle at Doornkop, South Africa (Boers beat Dr Jamesons troops).

1905 Japanese troops capture Port Arthur.

1942 German troops in Bardia surrender.

1942 Japanese troops occupy Manila Philippines.

1944 1st use of helicopters during warfare (British Atlantic patrol).

1945 Allied air raid on Neurenberg.

TERRORISM

1923 Ku Klux Klan surprise attack on black residential area Rosewood FL, 8 killed. (compensation awarded in 1995).

1923 Sam Carter black resident of Rosewood FL, lynched by KKK.

1932 Young gang shoot dead 6 police in Springfield Missouri.

SPORTS

1989 Notre Dame beats West Virginia for college football championship.

TORTURE

1776 Austria ends interrogation torture.

POLITICS

1788 Georgia is 4th state to ratify US constitution.

ABOLITION

1800 Free black community of Philadelphia PA petitions Congress to abolish slavery.

1831 Liberator, abolitionist newspaper, begins publishing in Boston.

CENSURE

1811 US Senator Thomas Pickering is 1st senator censured (revealed confidential documents communicated by the President of the US).

SCIENCE

1905 Elara, a satellite of Jupiter, discovered by Perrine.

1936 1st electron tube to enable night vision described, St Louis MO.

1972 Mariner 9 begins mapping Mars.

1995 Most distant galaxy yet discovered found by scientists using Keck telescope in Hawaii (estimated 15 billion light years away).

ENGINEERING

1842 1st US wire suspension bridge for general traffic opens in Pennsylvania.

DISASTER

1879 British battleship Thunder explodes in Gulf of Ismid, 9 die.

1971 A barrier collapses at Ibrox Park football ground at end of a soccer match in Glasgow Scotland, killing 66.

1995 Bus crashes in Luzon Philippines, 29 killed.

1974 Worst fire in Argentine history destroys 1.2 million acres.

1988 Ashland Oil storage tank spills 3.8 million gallons, Pennsylvania.

MASSACRES

1885 General Wolseley receives last distress signal of General Gordon in Khartoum.

ALLIGATORS

1890 Record 19'2" alligator shot in Louisiana by E A McIlhenny.

CIVIL RIGHTS

1903 President T Roosevelt shuts down post office in Indianola MI, for refusing to accept its appointed postmistress because she was black.

1965 Martin Luther King Jr begins a drive to register black voters.

1984 Wilson Goode, sworn-in as Philadelphia's 1st black mayor.

TRIALS

1935 Bruno R Hauptmann trial begins for kidnap-murder of Lindbergh baby.

1979 Sid Vicious' trial for murder of girlfriend Nancy Spingen begins.

MUSIC

1900 E Verlinger begins manufacturing 7" single-sided records (Montréal).

1978 Rhino Records releases their 1st album "Wildmania".

RIOTS and REBELLIONS

1919 Anti-British uprising in Ireland.

1981 Sylvester Clarke knocks out spectator with brick, West Indies vs Pakistan.

1984 Riot in Tunis kills over 100.

1994 Battles between army & rebellious Indians in South Mexico, kill 57.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1921 1st religious service radio broadcast in US, KDKA-Pittsburgh.

1949 KDKA TV channel 2 in Pittsburgh, PA (CBS) begins broadcasting.

NANNY STATE

1934 1st state liquor stores open, in Pennsylvania.

1974 55 MPH speed limit imposed by Richard Nixon.

OVERDOSE

1998 Autopsy of Chris Farley shows he overdosed of opiates & cocaine.

CAMELOT

1960 Senator John F Kennedy, announces his candidacy for President.

CLIMATE CHANGE

1961 Hawaii's, then all time low temperature, 14ºF recorded atop Haleakale.

JEWS

1966 1st Jewish child born in Spain since 1492 expulsion.

POPULATION

1970 US population is 205,052,174; Black population 22,600,000 (11.1%).

FINANCE

1986 191.66 million shares traded in New York Stock Exchange.

1990 Dow Jones hits record 2,800 (2,810.15).


PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING

1990 Sting joins wrestlings 4 Horsemen (Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson).

BORN

1727 James Wolfe commanded British Army (captured Québec)
1861 Helen Herron Taft 1st lady (1909-13)
1863 Lucia Zarate became lightest known adult human (2.1 kg at 17)
1920 Isaac Asimov Russia, scientist/writer (I Robot, Foundation Trilogy)
1928 Dan Rostenkowski (Representative-D-IL, -94), House Ways & Means Committee chair
1932 Dabney Coleman Austin Texas, (That Girl, Mary Hartman, Buffalo Bill)
1936 Roger Miller Fort Worth TX, country singer (King of the Road, Dang Me)
1938 John Considine actor (Reginald Love-Another World)
1939 Jim Bakker televangelist (PTL Club)/philanderer (Jessica Hahn)
1952 Ricky Van Shelton Grit VA, country singer (Wild-Eyed Dream)
1964 Pernell Whitaker boxer (Olympics-gold)
1968 Cuba Gooding Jr actor (Jerry McGuire, As Good As It Gets, Boyz N the Hood, A Few Good Men)
1969 Christy Turlington San Francisco CA, model (Calvin Klein Eternity)

DEATH

1904 James Longstreet Confederate General, dies at 82
1963 Dick Powell actor/director (Dick Powell Theater), dies at 58
1974 Tex Ritter country singer (5 Star Jubilee), dies at 67
1977 Erroll Garner jazz pianist (Misty), dies at 53
1990 Alan Hale Jr actor (Skipper Jonas Grumby-Gilligan's Island), dies of cancer at 71
1994 Caesar Romero actor (Joker-Batman), dies at 86

January 2, 2008, the 2nd day of the year. There are 364 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
[image: astrosurf]
Source: Today in History





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.