Alito’s First At Bat …
By Denise Best | Related entries in In The News, Supreme CourtSo, now that Justice Alito has been sworn in, just how quickly will he push his nefarious plans for an ultra conservative agenda?
Wait, here’s his first case as a Supreme Court Justice …
New Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito split with the court’s conservatives Wednesday night, refusing to let Missouri execute a death-row inmate contesting lethal injection.
Alito, handling his first case, sided with inmate Michael Taylor, who had won a stay from an appeals court earlier in the evening. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas supported lifting the stay, but Alito joined the remaining five members in turning down Missouri’s last-minute request to allow a midnight execution.
Wow — he really went into right field in that ruling!
Ok, I know one case does not a track record make.
Out of the gate at least, it looks as if the Democrat’s dire predictions of threats to personal rights and a personal political leaning that would unduly influence rulings, have been proven to the contrary.
We’ll of course stay tuned, but it’s an interesting start.
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 2nd, 2006 and is filed under In The News, Supreme Court. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 2nd, 2006 at 10:50 am
There could be many reasons for the ruling, and I think trying to say that this indicates anything about the man is ridiculous. Among other things, Taylor is claiming that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment. Alito may want the case to go forward so the SCOTUS can shoot down that argument for all future cases. Or he may have even wanted to make a relatively minor ruling that would enable the Denise Best’s of the world to claim that this somehow means that those who felt he would pursue a right wing agenda were wrong.
February 2nd, 2006 at 11:34 am
For whatever reason the man decided the stay should not be lifted, I am glad that Taylor was not executed. I am, of course, anti-death penalty, and I do think lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment. The reason is that one of the first needles they give you causes total paralysis, but it does not keep the person from feeling pain. The result is that we see a totally still and calm body dying peacefully, but the reality is that the person is experiencing agonizing pain and just can’t express that.
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:00 pm
Wow, it looks like Bush broke his promise to nominate Judges in the mold of Scalia and Thomas. I love it when he throws his Conservative base under the Bus like that. It appears Alito is a Souter in Scalia clothing.
February 2nd, 2006 at 2:47 pm
I like this site. The authors, for the most part, are intelligent and fair, and I try to stop by daily. But why is it that the conservative authors (i.e. Denise Best and Callimachus) feel the need to be so sarcastic and scornful when talking about liberals? It really takes away from their arguments, and I feel it goes against the spirit of Donklephant.
So please, just make your argument without all the “ooh, look at the silly little liberals making fun of Chimpy McHalliburton” sarcasm.
February 2nd, 2006 at 6:08 pm
I have found that people who lean right tend to view liberals as silly at best, insane at worst while people who lean left tend to view conservatives as callous at best and evil at worst. It’s very odd. Conservatives=nefarious. Liberals=crazy.
But I’ve never detected anything but the slightest tendancies towards those caricatures over here at Donklephant.
February 2nd, 2006 at 8:00 pm
People, one decision by Alito proves NOTHING. I, for one, hope he maintains O’Connor’s swing vote, but I’m not going to be able to tell for probably several years.
But one thing is for sure: he’s in for life. Now I simply have my fingers crossed that he won’t take the court in an activist direction (heh).
February 2nd, 2006 at 10:24 pm
“Now I simply have my fingers crossed that he won’t take the court in an activist direction.” What does “activist” mean to you Justin?
February 3rd, 2006 at 12:24 am
Note the (heh) at the end of that sentence. A joke and a poke at the right-wing definition of “activist” judges as anything having to do with ruling for things that the left-wing champions.
February 3rd, 2006 at 9:48 am
Fair enough – The recent dissent by Scalia in Gonzalez v. Oregon I believe is an example of some “right-wing” “activism”.
February 6th, 2006 at 2:20 pm
“For whatever reason the man decided the stay should not be lifted, I am glad that Taylor was not executed. I am, of course, anti-death penalty, and I do think lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment. The reason is that one of the first needles they give you causes total paralysis, but it does not keep the person from feeling pain. The result is that we see a totally still and calm body dying peacefully, but the reality is that the person is experiencing agonizing pain and just can’t express that.”
Exactly what ‘agonizing pain’ is that? If a person is ‘totally paralysed’ can they feel anything???
February 6th, 2006 at 2:50 pm
Debsay,
When I say totally paralysed, I mean totally unable to move. The first chemical that is injected is an anesthesia, Sodium Thiopental. If administered correctly, it will anesthetize the person for a few minutes. Next, they inject the chemical, Pancuronium Bromide, which paralyses the skeletal muscles, including the diaphragm, which stops the person’s breathing. The last chemical, Potassium Chloride is used to cause cardiac arrest.
The problems enter the equation when the person has not been properly anesthetized, and then, because of the paralyzing drug, it appears the person is dying peacefully. Somestimes the chemicals are not administered properly, sometimes they are shot into an artery instead of a vein, sometimes the chemicals are not mixed up properly, etc., but there have been enough botched cases (40% cited by the Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54799-2005Apr14.html) that there has been a call for a moratorium, and the death penalty in the form of lethal injection is being constitutionally challenged on the basis that it violates the 8th Amendment’s prohibition on Cruel and Unusual Punishment.
For more info about how lethal injection works, I would suggest Googling “lethal injection” with “pain,” “problems,” and/or “how it works”.