The Sole Arbiter of Nation's Moral Standards
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that due to the "general differences between juveniles under 18 and adults," juvenile offenders cannot with reliability be classified "among the worst offenders." Accordingly, the death penalty may not constitutionally be applied to minors.
Justice Scalia, Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice Thomas make the following point in dissent: "[T]he Court says in so many words that what our people's laws say about the issue does not, in the last analysis, matter: In the end our own judgment will be brought to bear on the question of the acceptability of the death penalty under the Eighth Amendment. The Court thus proclaims itself the sole arbiter of Nation's moral standards - and in the course of discharging that awesome responsibility purports to take guidance from the views of foreign courts and legislatures. Because [we] do not believe that the meaning of our Eighth Amendment, any more than the meaning of other provisions of our Constitution, should be determined by the subjective view of five members of this Court and like-minded foreigners, [we] dissent."
Justice Scalia, Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice Thomas make the following point in dissent: "[T]he Court says in so many words that what our people's laws say about the issue does not, in the last analysis, matter: In the end our own judgment will be brought to bear on the question of the acceptability of the death penalty under the Eighth Amendment. The Court thus proclaims itself the sole arbiter of Nation's moral standards - and in the course of discharging that awesome responsibility purports to take guidance from the views of foreign courts and legislatures. Because [we] do not believe that the meaning of our Eighth Amendment, any more than the meaning of other provisions of our Constitution, should be determined by the subjective view of five members of this Court and like-minded foreigners, [we] dissent."
posted by E.L. Lipman | 3/02/2005 07:51:00 AM
We should all puke in unison to mark the disaster that this decision represents. My favorite is the "general consensus" reached regarding the death penalty. Apparently the Court's majorty took a silent straw poll of the Nation before writing the opinion (a scientific poll of course!)
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