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Posted on 05/27/2014 8:52:16 AM PDT by BuckeyeTexan
The Supreme Court gave greater protection Tuesday to death row inmates seeking to prove they should not be executed because they are intellectually disabled, and ruled that laws like those in Florida and Virginia are too rigid.
The court ruled 5 to 4 that state laws that draw a bright line on IQ-test results are unconstitutional. Under those laws, an inmate who scores above 70 on the test cannot be considered intellectually disabled and cannot present evidence that he or she should not be executed.
Florida, Virginia and Kentucky have such laws, and a handful of others have similar rules. It was the court’s first consideration of state laws defining mental retardation in capital cases since its 2002 decision that executing the mentally retarded violated the Constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy joined the court’s liberals in Tuesday’s ruling , and said laws imposing a strict IQ test run counter to a unanimous verdict in the medical community that such scores are imprecise.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
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In other words, an inmate can avoid the death penalty by faking a low score on an IQ test.
I’ve never understood this. Seems to me that a person of below-average intelligence who rapes and murders is even more dangerous that one who knows right from wrong.
They were smart enough to commit the crime.
Leftist judges are now going to ban each state's death penalty, like they're currently doing to constitutional amendments upholding traditional marriage.
Striking fear into the hearts of all those 69'ers who thought they were not at risk.
♫ always look at the bright side of life ♫
Kennedy needs to hang when this country finally reaches the tipping point.
Perhaps the state should pay for a tutor.
Think of the absurdity of using “cruel and unusual” clause to throw these cases out. Clearly the death penalty is not unusual, so that isn’t relevant. What is left? Cruel.
That someone is getting the death penalty means they’ve committed an atrocity such as murder, serial rape, aggravated kidnapping/rape/murder, etc. An atrocity as listed above is by definition at the very least cruel. So any societal response less than the above is less than cruel.
The fundamental problem with liberalism is that it takes what is good and replaces it with what sounds good. The results be damned. It’s awfully hard to create a functioning lawful society without Judeo-Christian values.
So how about applying the same test to voters: too dumb to be legally educated, then too dumb to vote?
Between this and the ongoing War on Lethal Injection Drugs, the death penalty is pretty much finished as a practical matter.
Executing the retarded is unconstitutional, remember?
Kennedy is the stupidest man to ever sit on the USSC. His decisions are a joke to read. He often refutes himself and disproves his own premise. They read like a Dr. Suess book.
I thought IQ tests were not a valid form of testing intelligence per Libtards when looking at black scores?
haha
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