The Bush effect

President George Bush obviously likes death and destruction. As Governor of Texas, he signed more death warrants than any other State Governor. Now, he's had the opportunity to appoint SC justices that will ensure the death machine keeps rolling.

WASHINGTON - New Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito broke a tie Monday in a ruling that affirmed a state death penalty law and also revealed the court's deep divisions over capital punishment.

The Kansas case was unique. The state law says juries should impose death sentences if aggravating evidence of a crime's brutality and mitigating factors explaining a defendant's actions are equal in weight.

Justice David H. Souter, writing for the liberals, said the law was "morally absurd."

The issue at hand was not the option for juries to impose a death sentence, but the State law which said juries should impose death sentences. It's a subtle, but important distinction.

Of course, the United States and Japan are the only developed democratic nations that have a death penalty, and the US is one of only 8 nations (Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen) in the world that execute minors.

And Scalia has the best quote;

"The American people have determined that the good to be derived from capital punishment in deterrence, and perhaps most of all in the meting out of condign justice for horrible crimes outweighs the risk of error. It is no proper part of the business of this court, or of its justices, to second-guess that judgment, much less to impugn it before the world ...,"

There is no deterrent factor in the death penalty. The option of life without parole is perfectly suited for ensuring the safety of the public at large. Scalia argues that the vengeance aspect is a reasonable reason to retain capital punishment.

I find that absurd, and I'd like to see if Scalia reconsiders the "risk of error" if he finds his own head on the chopping block. You can't pardon a wrongly convicted dead man.