KNOCK KNOCK KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S DOOR | Breyer Beats the Drums | Pay Day for NFL
December 13, 2016
DOA AT SCOTUS
|The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday turned away appeals from death row inmates in four states that raised different questions about the fairness of capital punishment. The four appeals rejected Monday: James Tyler of Louisiana whose lawyer conceded guilt even though his client objected to the strategy; Sammie Stokes of South Carolina whose lawyer had previously prosecuted him for assaulting his ex-wife and never informed the judge about the earlier case; Romell Broom of Ohio who survived a botched execution; and Henry Sireci of Florida who was first sentenced to death 40 years ago.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
|In an unusual dissent yesterday, JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER once again beat the drums in criticism of the American capital justice system. His dissent addressed the high court’s decision not to hear the case out of Florida and urged his colleagues to rethink the death penalty. Breyer wrote, “Forty years is more time than an average person could expect to live his entire life when America constitutionally forbade the infliction of cruel and unusual punishments.” Adam Liptak with The New York Times reports.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCKIN ON HEAVEN'S DOOR
|Richard Wolf with USA Today writes, “Death came knocking at the Supreme Court’s door twice last week, as it has done most weeks since the justices took the bench in early October.” Wolf covers the denial of the four death penalty cases, also noting JUSTICE BREYER’S “biting” dissent in which he wrote, “Individuals who are executed are not the ‘worst of the worst’ but, rather, are individuals chosen at random on the basis, perhaps of geography, perhaps of the views of individual prosecutors, or still worse on the basis of race…The time has come for this court to reconsider the constitutionality of the death penalty.”
DEBATE DU JOUR
|Can a Supreme Court justice denounce a candidate? In The New York Times, Paul Butler, Stephen Gillers and Erwin Chemerinsky go toe to toe and debate this question, each with their own very different take on the issue.
PAY DAY
|Monday, the Supreme Court declined to review the NFL’s settlement with retired players who had accused the league of hiding the dangers of head trauma. Yesterday’s decision – or rather, non-decision – means players can start receiving settlements of as much as $5 million. Ken Belson with The New York Times reports, “The settlement, worth perhaps as much as $1 billion, covers nearly every former player for the next 65 years.”
OTHER NEWS
Lawsuit challenges Texas rule requiring burial for aborted fetuses
CNN“A lawsuit was filed against the state of Texas on Monday seeking to halt new rules mandating the burial or cremation of aborted fetal remains. The Texas Department of State Health Services approved the measure last week. The new regulations require women’s health clinics to bury or cremate embryonic and fetal tissue from abortions, miscarriages or ectopic pregnancy surgery, regardless of the woman’s wishes.”