She also stated, "The idea that courts are not permitted to acknowledge that a mistake has been made which would bar an execution is quite incredible for a country that not only prides itself on having the quintessential system of justice but attempts to export it to the world as a model of fairness....
At the Supreme Court's initial ruling, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion for SCOTUS. It was joined by Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.
"We are not persuaded that the execution of mentally retarded criminals will measurably advance the deterrent or the retributive purpose of the death penalty," the Court said.
If one favored the death penalty, Darell Hill would be right up there among prime candidates. This cognitively challenged miscreant has committed some of the most heinous crimes we can recall. But if he couldn't tell right from wrong, should he lose his life? The Appeals Court ruling doesn't address the constitutionality of capital punishment in general.
The majority cited a growing national consensus on the issue since the high court ruled in 1989 that such executions may be unacceptable. In the past 13 years the number of states that do not allow the execution of mentally retarded death row prisoners has grown from two to 18.
"It is fair to say that a national consensus has developed against it," Stevens wrote.
In a blistering dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia scoffed at what he called "the 47 percent consensus." He said the 18 states represent less than half of the 38 states that permit capital punishment in any case.
"If one is to say as the court does today that ALL executions of the mentally retarded are so morally repugnant as to violate our national standards of decency, surely the consensus it points to must be one that has set its righteous face against ALL such executions," Scalia wrote.
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