A Minor Oversight
I’m sure you all remember not that long ago that the US Supreme Court overturned various states’s attempts to charge child rapists with a capital crime. The effect was felt in Texas, where our version of Jessica’s Law which allowed for the death penalty for repeat offenders was downgraded to life without parole.
In ruling capital punishment unconstitutional for child rapists, the majority opinion heavily leveraged itself upon the notion that there was no national consensus that existed that made the death penalty proportionate to the crime committed. As the Fort Worth Star Telegram pointed out, they may have been wrong:
But three days after the ruling, a blog dedicated to military justice issues (caaflog.blogspot.com) pointed out that the court was wrong on the federal law: Congress in 2006 amended the Uniform Code of Military Justice to make child rape punishable by death, and President Bush concurred in a 2007 executive order.
Hey, even Supreme Court Justices are human. But in all seriousness, the real question is why this amended code wasn’t presented before the court by the defense? Turns out, it was overlooked:
Lawyers for Louisiana also said that the state takes responsibility for the “significant error” of not being aware of the revised federal law.
So where that brings us today is that the US Solicitor General’s office has urged the US Supreme Court to reconsider their ruling. No word at this point as to if the Supreme court plans to honor that request.
But here’s for hoping they do. Every editorial board in the state gets their opinion, so now you get mine. Forget that child rapists deserve no sympathy in my mind. Forget that they prey upon our most vulnerable citizens. This supreme court ruling needs to be reviewed and hopefully overturned because it is fundamentally flawed.
They (the majority ruling) cite that there is no national consensus on the matter, yet the US Congress created that consensus in 2006. Just because it was overlooked at the time of the ruling does not make the amended statute non-existent today. It still exists, and a mistake regarding its intent was made, and that mistake needs to be corrected.
Besides, who is the US Supreme Court to deny me the pleasure in ripping on Valinda Bolton for voting with child predators? In her defense, though, I hear they have a really powerful lobby.