Daily Ramblings:
Justice's Beautiful Face ...03/03/2005 09:12:18 pm
Supreme Court Justice Kennedy, from his opinion
the other day in Roper vs. Simmons (pdf), where
the U.S. Supreme Court found (in a 5 to 4 decision)
that juvenile capital punishment was
unconstitutional:
The overwhelming weight of
international opinion against the juvenile death
penalty is not controlling here, but provides
respected and significant confirmation for the
Court's determination that the penalty is
disproportionate punishment for offenders under
18. ... The United States is the only country in
the world that continues to give official
sanction to the juvenile penalty. It does not
lessen fidelity to the Constitution or pride in
its origins to acknowledge that the express
affirmation of certain fundamental rights by
other nations and peoples underscores the
centrality of those same rights within our own
heritage of freedom.
Iowahawk, with tomorrow's news
today:
Court Backs 3-Oxen Dowries
WASHINGTON, DC - In a
far-reaching decision that will likely create
complicated consequences for the American
livestock and wedding-planning industries, the
Supreme Court this morning ruled 5-4 that all US
marriage dowries "must include three
non-diseased oxen."
Writing for the majority,
Justice Anthony Kennedy cited "the weight of
the expansive penumbra surrounding the
historically emerging and prevailing opinions of
tribal shamans from Lesotho to Myanamar" in
issuing the historic ruling in American
Cattleman Association vs. Modern Bride,
Helverson, et al.
In a scathing and sometimes
caustic dissent, Judge Antonin Scalia wrote that
"Holy. Freakin'. Shit."
The American Civil Liberties
Union, which had filed an amicus brief in the
case, praised the decision as "an important
first step in insuring that American grooms will
eventually share the same access to bovine
property rights as the rest of the international
community."
"The decision underscores
the principle of Federalism by creating
uniformity in our notoriously inconsistent state
dowry laws," noted Harvard Law professor
Lawrence Tribe.
And don't miss the rest of it.
You are viewing an individual
item from RightWingBob.com - click here to view the
main page.