Conservative judges suck

Get a load of this one...

DALLAS - The U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned the murder conviction of a black man accused of killing a white hotel clerk during a robbery cited a manual that instructed prosecutors on how to exclude minorities from Texas juries. The Supreme Court overturned Miller-El's conviction in June, citing a manual written in 1969 that instructed prosecutors on how to exclude minority jurors. In Miller-El's case, the racial discrimination in the jury selection process was unquestionable, Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter wrote in the 6-3 decision.

The 12-member jury that sentenced Miller-El to death row in 1986 included one black. Prosecutors had struck 10 of the 11 blacks eligible to serve.

"If anything more is needed for an undeniable explanation of what was going on, history supplies it," Souter wrote. "The prosecutors took their cues from a 20-year-old manual of tips on jury selection, as shown by their notes of the race of each potential juror."

The manual was written by Jon Sparling, a top assistant to longtime Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade, and included such instructions as:

• "You are not looking for any member of a minority group which may subject him to oppression — they almost always empathize with the accused."

• "Look for physical afflictions. These people usually sympathize with the accused."

• "Extremely overweight people, especially women and young women, indicate a lack of self-discipline and often times instability. I like the lean and hungry look."

But the county prosecutor says that ruling didn't call into question the guilt of the inmate, Thomas Miller-El, and the state plans to seek the death penalty again in a new trial.

I read a news report last week that showed that according to the latest census in Texas, Caucasians are now the minority in this state. Regardless of the ethnicity, Texas is still very racist, and probably will be for a very long time. Redneck ignorance is celebrated here while intellect and culture are discouraged.

But wait, there's more..

The decision was 6-3. Can you name the 3 that dissented? I'll bet you can. Just think of the craziest motherfuckers that have ever been on the Supreme Court.

That's right. Scalia, Thomas, Rehnquist. Thomas is black for god's sake, that's how nuts he is. Not only that, but he wrote the dissenting opinion personally!

This Court concludes otherwise, because it relies on evidence never presented to the Texas state courts. That evidence does not, much less “clear[ly] and convincing[ly],” show that the State racially discriminated against potential jurors. 28 U. S. C. §2254(e)(1). However, we ought not even to consider it: In deciding whether to grant Miller-El relief, we may look only to “the evidence presented in the dissenting State court proceeding.” §2254(d)(2). The majority ignores that restriction on our review to grant Miller-El relief. I respectfully dissent.

What Thomas is saying is that there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that racism was used by the prosecutors office during jury selection.

What part of

• "You are not looking for any member of a minority group which may subject him to oppression — they almost always empathize with the accused."

does Thomas not understand? Then he goes on to say that the court "ought not even to consider it", but why even mention it if not to consider it?

Finally, his argument relies on what he perceives as a statutory limitation on what the Supreme Court can review in this case.

Clearly this is a cut-and-dried case. Capital cases, at the very least, deserve the utmost care in providing a fair trial. A person's life may be at stake; especially in Texas where the vast majority of executions in this country take place. George Bush was particularly fond of signing death warrants. He is, after all, the leader of the culture of death.

It does not matter in the least whether or not the defendant actually committed the crime. It does look like he did, and deserves to rot in prison for his natural life, but you simply cannot select juries based on race. A defendant already has the cards stacked against him, merely being tried in Texas. They citizens of Texas are overwhelmingly crazy and hateful, and love to convict and execute people.

I don't think you are innocent until proven guilty in this state. If you are a minority, you are far more likely to be executed.

Race Female Male Total
White 4 124 128 44.4% 30.8% 31.1%
Black 5 165 170 55.6% 41.0% 41.4%
Hispanic 0 109 109 0.0% 27.1% 26.5%
Other 0 4 4 0.0% 1.0% 1.0%
TOTAL 9 402 411 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

More than half of the prisoners on death row in Texas are black.

This ruling will have a chilling effect. Just watch for every other black prisoner on death row to file an appeal based on racist jury selections.

** update **

The latest SCotUS nominee, John Roberts, would probably have sided with the dissenters. Afterall, USA Today is reporting that Roberts thinks women don't deserve the same pay as men for doing the same work.

WASHINGTON — As an assistant White House counsel in 1984, John Roberts scoffed at the notion that men and women should earn equal pay in jobs of comparable importance, and he belittled three female Republican members of Congress who promoted that idea to the Reagan administration.

Conservatives, as a group, are generally just a bunch of assholes, but when they are judges, and have legal authority, thats makes them just plain dangerous.