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What's at Stake with the Kennedy Rehearing

By Corey Rayburnyung

Peter Verniero recently had this to say:There is something almost sacrosanct about recitations of law contained in decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. Lower-court judges, attorneys, law professors and everyday citizens depend on those statements in myriad ways even when disagreeing with the court's conclusions. If for no other reason than that, the court should reconsider and correct an opinion it filed at the end of its last term, Kennedy vs. Louisiana.... The court's opinion recited the law erroneously. The Uniform Code of Military Justice -- without question, a federal law -- includes sexual assault of a child among the crimes for which capital punishment is authorized. What's more, because Congress amended the code to include the child-rape provision in 2006, it cannot reasonably be said that the law reflects an outdated notion of a bygone era...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sex Crimes on September 23, 2008 (boomark / email).