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Examining what the Chief and Justice Ginsburg might do in Kennedy

By Douglas A. Berman

Sherry Colb has this notable new essay at FindLaw, titled "Kennedy v. Louisiana and the Lessons of a Supreme Court Oral Argument."  Here is how it starts and ends:On April 16, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in Kennedy v. Louisiana, a case challenging the constitutional validity of a death sentence imposed for the rape of a child. In this column, I will take up some of the intriguing ideas that emerged from the questions that various Justices posed to the attorneys arguing before them. In particular, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Chief Justice John Roberts, in their efforts to understand the force and content of earlier Court precedents, revealed important clues to their respective views on a variety of issues.... [T]he Justices' inquiries in Kennedy do suggest a greater likelihood of the Court's upholding the death penalty for child rape than one might have predicted prior to arguments...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on April 30, 2008 (boomark / email).