Posted on 02/02/2006 1:54:21 AM PST by Bullitt
I agree--I'm FOR the death penalty, but I don't think we give Alito a black mark for voting to hear with more detail a case (or I think it's letting a lower court hear a case) without studying the issues. Only 1 day on the court and I'd want time too.
Time for what? Alito had heard as much about this case as any other justice on the Supreme Court. The appeal didn't get filed until yesterday.
I'm not going to throw him under the bus on his second day.
Actually DM, why recuse himself when the 8th circuit wants to hear the case again and when it rules, then SCOTUS rules(with an Alito much more read up on the case).
But what the hey you gotta go knee jerk anyway.
PS. And bear in mind that this is not a case about dotting Is and crossing Ts. They are not debating whether he was correctly convicted and sentenced (that was actually rejected 9-0, at least on the basis that the legal system is inherently biased). It is a challenge to the constitutionality of lethal injection.
Amazing after all your years on FR, that you can still be played like a violin by the MSM.
Alito is no less "read up" on the case than were Roberts, Thomas, and Scalia. The appeals weren't filed until yesterday. And, it's hardly as if Alito is a novice to hearing capital appeals - he's heard 10 of them as a Circuit Court judge.
And yes, if in fact he had not had time to review the case, he should've recused himself, which is exactly what Alito did with the Rutherford death penalty appeal.
This whole idea that Alito just wanted to get "up to speed" is truly beyond laughable.
It gives him time to review the case and he doesn't have to recuse himself when the lower court ruling comes through.
But you already knew that, but I guess your joining the knee jerk bandwagon was to much for you to resist.
These guys aren't bots, they have minds. They are also fallable.
Keep your powder dry pal. Alito is everything we hoped he would be, and the fact is, in a death penalty appeal of ANY kind, you want the SCOTUS (if they choose to hear the case) to listen to any and every argument so that when they DO drop the hammer on the perp, there is no question whatsoever that justice was served.
We don't want a rubber stamp to Roberts, Scalia and Thomas anymore than we would want a liberal rubber stamp to the likes of Ginsberg, Souter or Stevens.
Alito is a careful, thinking, intelligent jurist and if I were facing the death penalty, and got news that my case would be heard by Justice Alito, I might still get executed but I would concede that I got a fair hearing. Alito is infinitely fair, and I trust his judgment.
Did any of you doom and gloom, oh god we have been snookered screechers even read the article posted earlier in this thread? It shows a very clear record on the death penalty by Alito. It shows that he is very judicious and also very very thorough before allowing Death Penalty cases to proceed. This vote is exactly in line with every ruling Alito has made in his career -- he is a "Let's hear the entire story" type of Jurist. This has all been hashed out already, and while it may be frustrating that scum like Taylor get to live a few more days or weeks, it also garauntees that no one can say the scum wasn't given a fair shake.
IT must really suck to go through life everyday with such a oh god the sky is falling, everyone turns against us, we are Doomed DOOmed DOOOOOOOOOMED attitude.
You could not possibly sound any more ignorant about how the legal system works if you tried. Not that you need to try.
The whole appeal by Missouri to the Supreme Court was on the question of whether the case had adequate merit to be heard by the lower court. The liberals said yes, it does. The conservatives said no, it doesn't. Alito joined the liberals.
He didn't have any less time to review the case than did Roberts, Thomas, and Scalia. Roberts, Thomas, and Scalia voted to lift the stay. The liberals voted not to lift the stay. Alito voted not to lift the stay.
There is nothing about the particulars of this case that needs to be reviewed to reach a decision. Nothing whatsoever. Nada, zippo, zilch. This is not a challenge to the conviction or to the sentence. This is a challenge to whether lethal injection is cruel or unusual punishment.
Nothing even remotely in the slightest specific to this case makes a difference to that decision. Any death penalty case involving lethal injection would've been just the same.
You didn't know any of that, and I'm hardly surprised, but for some weird reason, you seem to act as if you did.
Well it seems you are the self-proclaimed expert on ignorance and it is your right to give yourself such accolades.
It was Alito's first day. I will trust his judgement on such cases, not some chicken little wannabe SCOTUS justice.
It was his first day, O'Connor would have been the first to review it and refer it to the court.
Anyway, I'll take commish's well thought out comments about Justice Alito over your knee jerkiness anyday.
I pray that he is not another Souter! I had fears all along that he was a closet liberal.
The Supreme Court says you don't have a clue what you're talking about any more so than usual.
05A705 CRAWFORD, DIR., MO DOC, ET AL. V. TAYLOR, MICHAEL A.The application to vacate the stay of execution of sentence of death entered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on February 1, 2006, presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court, is denied.
The Chief Justice, Justice Scalia, and Justice Thomas would grant the application to vacate.
And Justice O'Connor's circuit was the Ninth Circuit.
Uh oh! Justice Alito, have you met Justice Souter?
Justice Thomas last handled the Eighth Circuit before Alito.
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