Jack & Jill Politics

hat tip-JeffL

From Daily Kos: Clarence Thomas Smacked Down Like Never Before

The case decided today:

Today, the Supreme Court held, for the first time, that the Constitution prohibits sentencing a juvenile to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for a non-homicide case. In Graham v Florida, the Court established this new rule which, for the first time, extends the special treatment of juveniles to non-capital cases. The majority opinion was written by Kennedy, with Stevens, Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor concurring.

The smackdown of Unca Clarence:

JUSTICE STEVENS, with whom JUSTICE GINSBURG and JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR join, concurring.

In his dissenting opinion, JUSTICE THOMAS argues that today’s holding is not entirely consistent with the controlling opinions in (citations omitted). Given that “evolving standards of decency” have played a central role in our Eighth Amendment jurisprudence for at least a century, (Citation omitted), this argument suggests the dissenting opinions in those cases more accurately describe the law today than does JUSTICE THOMAS’ rigid interpretation of the Amendment. Society changes. Knowledge accumulates. We learn, sometimes, from our mistakes. Punishments that did not seem cruel and unusual at one time may, in the light of reason and experience, be found cruel and unusual at a later time; unless we are to abandon the moral commitment embodied in the Eighth Amendment, proportionality review must never become effectively obsolete, . . . .

While JUSTICE THOMAS would apparently not rule out a death sentence for a $50 theft by a 7-year-old . . ., the Court wisely rejects his static approach to the law. Standards of decency have evolved since 1980. They will never stop doing so.

BWA HA HA HA H AH HA HA

The MUTE’S decisions are routinely bizarre, but I guess this one snapped Stevens’ last nerve. Stevens is like, ‘ I’m outta here, and I don’t care.’