Strong Words, Clearly Spoken

[richlevy]

Originally posted by wolf
Executed 152 convicted criminals who were subjected to a rigorous appeals process. Awwww ... poor criminals.

Actually, the Supreme Court, in a surprising 8-1 vote, has issued a stay in a Texas execution.

"UNUSUAL INTERVENTION

Unusually, three former federal judges, including former FBI director William Sessions, who is from Texas, filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to hear the case.

In a one-paragraph order, the high court said the stay would remain in effect until the justices decide whether to hear one of the pending appeals filed by Banks' lawyers.

If the appeal is rejected, the stay of execution will end, the court said. If the justices decide to hear the case, it will continue until the court issues a decision.

Banks had shown that from 1975 through 1980, Bowie County prosecutors accepted 80 percent of qualified white jurors and eliminated 90 percent of blacks in felony cases. They used a code, writing "b" or "n" by the names of blacks on jury lists."


Want to guess what the "n" stood for? So a former FBI director and 8 Supreme Court Justices, including 2 of the most conversvative justices in court history all feel that something is rotten in the state of Texas. The sole dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas.

Now this is merely for a stay of execution, but this is certainly noteworthy. After all, it has been established in Texas that it sufficient that a defendant in a capital crime have counsel, but that there are no minimum standards, including a requirement that the defendant's counsel be awake during the entire trial.

Anyway, back to the war.