A Dilemma
I’m so pathetic. My little heart is all aflutter because newly appointed Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito split with the court’s conservatives his very first time at bat. In a 6-3 decision yesterday, the court denied the state of Missouri’s request to execute death-row inmate Michael Taylor, who had succeeded in obtaining a stay on his execution from an appeals court earlier yesterday evening. Missouri filed a request to lift the stay in order to allow for a midnight execution, and Chief Justice John Roberts joined Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas in supporting Missouri’s bid to proceed with the execution. Alito sided with the other five justices in supporting Taylor. Read the full story here.I say I’m pathetic, because this doesn’t really mean anything. Does it? My optimistic side (yes, outiboy, I do have one!) wants to think that perhaps he’s more independent-minded than I had assumed. My cynical side thinks that this is just a ploy, a clever ruse to throw us liberals off his conservative stench and make us think, “See, I’m not so bad.” Honestly, I don’t know what to think.
I think I need to stop obsessing over this.
posted by Sandouri Dean Bey at 12:05 PM
5 Comments:
There's a chance, and I think that Alito's reputation as a serious, thoughtful jurist might support it, that Alito might be a "real" supreme Court Justice. It has happened before.
Dwight Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren in the belief that he was putting a solid conservative on the Court. Warren put on the robes and ruled on the law, not on his spoonsor's agenda. warren was hated in conservative areas of the country. Other judges, whatever their personal beliefs, have become Justices and ruled fairly based on the Constitution and on the law. Alito may be one of those.
At least we have to hope so.
exactly, will. that is my hope. and it's not necessarily a far fetched one. there's also harry blackmun and even o'connor herself arguably didn't turn out to be the conservative reagan had hoped for. so, yes, i agree, we have to hope alito will be one of those.
Have you checked this out? This is unbelieveable. The attorney general of Kansas believes that it's impossible for anyone who's 16 to have sex without raped being involved.
Trial Opens in Challenge to Law Over Teenage Sex
By JODI RUDOREN
Published: January 31, 2006 in the NY Times
WICHITA, Kan., Jan. 30 — A federal trial opened here Monday over whether a Kansas law prohibiting virtually all sexual activity by people under age 16 means health care professionals and educators must report such behavior to state authorities, which some say would stop many teenagers from seeking contraception or treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.
a rare exposure of optimism!!! you're a better man than I; my cynical side says the jury is still out on Alito, and deliberations don't look favorable. i hope he proves my cynicism inappropriate.
The court in Kansas has struck down the law. They said it's intent was clearly to establish an anti-sodomy law in Kansas and that such laws have already been declared unconstitutional on the national level. That means the conviction of a young man barely over eighteen years who got almost 20 years in prison for blowing another who was barely under eighteen has been overturned.
Blessedly, there is still SOME sanity out there.
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