Posted on 11/27/2005 7:27:52 PM PST by RWR8189
ALTHOUGH abortion rights have dominated the debate over the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court, there is another issue implicating the "culture of life" that has garnered fewer headlines: capital punishment. The impending executions of three men in California, including the lethal injection of reformed ex-gang leader Stanley Tookie Williams scheduled for Dec. 13, are a sober reminder of the irrevocable stakes in this area of law.
Capital cases make up a substantial portion of the Supreme Court's docket each year. From 2000 to 2005, the court decided only three cases involving abortion but more than three dozen cases involving the death penalty. In this area, the Supreme Court often serves not only in its typical role of deciding unsettled questions of broadly applicable law but also as a court of last resort to correct errors and prevent injustice in individual cases.
Capital proceedings are often fraught with error. In recent years, the Supreme Court — with the assent of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, whom Alito would replace — has invalidated several convictions and death sentences because of misleading jury instructions, poor lawyering, racial discrimination in jury selection and prosecutorial misconduct.
So what do we know about Alito's views on this issue? During his 15-year career on the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, Alito participated in 10 capital cases. Five were decided unanimously by three-judge panels and involved fairly straightforward issues. The other five provoked strong differences of opinion between Alito and his colleagues.
In every one of the five contested cases, Alito voted against the inmate and issued an opinion. Individually and especially as a whole, these opinions show a troubling tendency to tolerate serious errors in capital proceedings. Whatever one may think of the death penalty, Alito's record should give pause to
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
OK, I'm sold. Go ahead and swear him in.
Lol! You could phone in an opinion on which direction an LA Times piece would take on the question of Alito.
Even if Alito's decisions in those cases were bad public policy, his only job is to rule on the Constitutionality of those cases. There is nothing here that disqualifies him from being on the Supreme Court.
What hypocrisy!
Not really hypocrisy, they are saying it's OK to murder store clerks, spouses, policemen, ... just like it's OK to murder the unborn. No murder should be punished.
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