Silence From the Court - NYT

[WillyT]

Another reason the DP violates the 8th Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment.

Silence From the Court
By DAHLIA LITHWICK and LISA T. McELROY - NYT
Published: September 22, 2011

<snip>

ON Wednesday night, Troy Davis was executed for a crime he may or may not have committed. But the real crime on Wednesday night was the action — or really the lack of action, the absolute radio silence — of the United States Supreme Court, which, as the nation watched and waited, did nothing for 203 minutes past the scheduled execution time. Or at least nothing anyone could see.

It is a truism of the American justice system that the Supreme Court operates in secret, unmoved by candlelight vigils and protests, polls and placard-wielding crowds. That is right and proper. It’s the reason the justices are unelected and also the reason they are required to write fully developed opinions and orders. But we must keep in mind that the court knew for several days that the execution was scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. It knew that it would receive a last-minute petition for a stay and that Georgia would not carry out the execution until it spoke. Under those circumstances, for it to consider a matter of life and death, while for over three long hours America and the world are told absolutely nothing, is a violation of that basic bargain. It is a show of power without reason and of authority without accountability.

For 203 minutes on Wednesday night Americans speculated and wondered, worried and guessed, without recourse — waiting for a single sentence from the Supreme Court. While the court considered the petition for far longer than was typical, all while communicating nothing, even Mr. Davis’s own lawyers were unclear as to why the delay had happened, what exactly the Supreme Court was debating, and when the court would decide Mr. Davis’s fate. For 3 hours and 23 minutes the foremost lawyers and pundits in the country tried to guess at what was going on in Washington, while the Supreme Court’s Web site offered no information about the matter. If any other branch of government had exercised such power without explanation, it would have looked like all of democracy had been put on hold.

And then there’s the human dimension. Because while the court went dark for over three hours, a man waited to learn whether he would live or die, as did his family. The family of Mark A. MacPhail Sr., the Savannah police officer whom Mr. Davis was convicted of killing, waited for closure.

<snip>

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/opinion/supreme-courts-silence-on-execution.html?ref=opinion

:evilfrown:

[Me.]

1. It Was A Show Of Contempt

[Rex]

2. Same reason they forced the issue of dates in 2000.

Scarface knew they could steal an election for his good friend James Baker III by making sure deadlines were more important then the outcome of a federal election. They use the law to break the spirit of the law.

[Riftaxe]

3. Wait, are you saying that the founding fathers

ignored the document they just wrote?

Or are you contending that despite the fact that executions in this country go back to 1608, you all of the sudden have a better comprehension of the Bill of Rights then the founders who wrote it?