In a day of unfortunate but not unexpected news from the Supreme Court, which ruled that lethal injections are not unconstitutional, one of the Justices on the Court for the first time called for the abolition of the death penalty.

From the NY Times:

Another member of the majority, Justice John Paul Stevens, said in his separate opinion that he felt bound by the court’s precedents to uphold the constitutionality of the Kentucky protocol. But he went on to call for abolishing the death penalty, both as a matter of policy and of Eighth Amendment jurisprudence. “State-sanctioned killing,” Justice Stevens said, was “becoming more and more anachronistic.”

Justice Stevens voted with the majority that restored capital punishment in 1976, his first year on the court. But he said he had changed his mind, based on “my own experience” in seeing how the death penalty is actually carried out in a changing climate. Among the factors he singled out was a series of decisions that he said had “endorsed procedures that provide less protections to capital defendants than to ordinary offenders.”

KXAN Article
April 16, 2008

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN/AP) — Texas and dozens of other states soon may resume executions after the Supreme Court’s rejection of challenges to Kentucky’s lethal injection.

Use of the death penalty filed by Medlin Lawyers has been on hold for seven months while the high court considered inmate complaints about Kentucky’s three-drug method of execution.

The justices issued their ruling Wednesday. Scott Cobb of the Texas Moratorium Network said the opinion was not unexpected. Cobb said he anticipated at least one district attorney in the state would file the paperwork to reopen the death penalty in Texas by the end of the week.

The Texas Moratorium Network, on the other hand, is pinning more of its hopes on the November general elections. The last time a moratorium on the death penalty seriously was considered in the Legislature was 2001; by no coincidence, that was the last year the Democrats held the majority in the House. Cobb points out Democrats are only five seats away from a majority.

Even a new Speaker of the House could make a difference, Cobb said. Rep. Brian McCall (R-Plano) was the sole Republican in the House to vote in favor of a death penalty moratorium in 2001. Right now, McCall is one of a number of potential candidates who may challenge current Speaker of the House Tom Craddick next session.

The recent exoneration of multiple Dallas County prison inmates — based on DNA tests requested by new DA Craig Watkins — may be just the push to encourage lawmakers to take a moratorium and study committee on the death penalty seriously, Cobb said.

The nation’s last execution was Sept. 25, when Texas inmate Michael Richard was put to death. Cobb noted the intervening months — seven — would have been more than enough time to make seriously inroads on a study committee. Cobb says the months on hold without an execution also prove the sky will not fall if the death penalty is put on hold.

Texas leads the nation in death penalty convictions, and Harris County leads the state in executed inmates. The death penalty was an issue in the recent district attorney’s race. Only Rick Reed said he would say “no” to the death penalty. Rosemary Lehmberg won the recent runoff election in the Democratic primary. She faces no opponent in November.

Gov. Rick Perry said the court’s ruling affirms Texas’ method of execution and that he supports continued use of capital punishment.

“Texas is a law-and-order state, and I stand by the majority of Texans who support the death penalty as it is written in Texas law,” Perry said in a released statement. “It is an appropriate response for the most violent crimes against our fellow human beings.”

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said he is grateful the court rendered the decision it did.

Rusty Hubbarth of the Houston-based pro-death penalty group Justice For All called and left a message on the TMN voice mail this morning gloating about the Supreme Court decision today in the Baze case. He called to say “I just want you to have a real nice day” and to let us know that the Court “said that it is not unconstitutional or cruel and unusual for capital punishment to take place through lethal injection, so let the games begin”. Let the long and exciting games begin, like a casino game in online casino such as 666 casino. an online casino that gives big sign up bonus upon entering.

Rusty is apparently eager for executions to resume after the 7 month moratorium while the states waited for today’s Supreme Court ruling, but he does his pro death penalty cause a great disservice by describing the probable resumption of executions with the phrase that traditionally is used to start the Olympic Games.

If an aide to John McCain or one of the other presidential candidates had responded to the Supreme Court news this morning by saying, “Let the games begin”, that aide would probably be fired.

The 2008 Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break was a great success. Students attended from many colleges throughout the U.S. We expect many of the participants will remain active and make an impact in the human rights field after they leave college. Already one of the students has started a new chapter of Students Against the Death Penalty at Washington College in Maryland. Here is their new FaceBook site.

One of the events the students held was a “Peoples’ Tribunal Against the Death Penalty” at the Texas Capitol. Below is a video of it.

We took a group of students from the anti-death penalty alternative spring break to see this film on March 12 at the SXSW Film Festival. It is a very powerful film. If you would like to host a screening of the film in your area, contact us at 512-302-6715 and we will help you apply. You have to act quickly though, before they run out of hosting kits.

The Independent Film Channel (IFC), is preparing to release a new documentary titled At the Death House Door which addresses the most pressing issues surrounding debate on capital punishment including: lethal injection, wrongful conviction, morality and religion. The movie tells the story of Carroll Pickett, who served as the Chaplin for the Texas Department of Corrections from 1982-1995 and counseled 95 inmates executed by lethal injection. It chronicles Pickett’s experience counseling Carlos De Luna, who was executed for a crime he didn’t commit, and tracks Pickett’s ideological transformation from supporting to opposing the death penalty.

We are writing to offer you the exclusive opportunity to host a screening of this film in your community. We have developed free “Screening in a Box” kits which have all the tools necessary to organize a screening in your area. Kits contain:

· DVD of the film
· Invitations for the screening including postage
· Promotional posters
· Event planning/discussion guide
· Snack voucher
· Customizable press release
· Sample letter to the editor
· Postcard to promote tune-in for the film premiere on IFC in May

We designed the kits to help make the events turn-key and easy for you to plan and host. We hope the kits will help you generate further discussion and debate about the death penalty in your area, and we invite you to use the screenings as educational tools to expand your membership, grow your organization, generate media attention, or accomplish any other organizational goal you have.

While the kits are free, they are very valuable, and we want to ensure we find partners who will be motivated and responsible hosts. We are seeking partners who will promote the screening to their membership and community, and will organize events for 50 or more people.