or ROPER, SUPERINTENDENT, POTOSI CORRECTIONAL CENTER v. SIMMONS.
This 17 year old planned and commited a murder. After he turned 18, he was sentenced to death. The Supreme Court decided today that according to the eighth and fourteenth amendments, that this constituted cruel and unusual punishment.
Considering how this was a pretty heinous (not to mention cruel and unusual) crime, how the fuck can they even consider this. Justice Kennedy wrote the opinion and within, cited the weight of internation court opinion. What does the weight of international law have to do with upholding the law of our constitution? The court also decided that, even though a juvenile may commit a heinous crime, we cannot execute them because they have the potential of attaining a mature understanding of their own humanity. WTF? Attain a mature understanding of his own humanity? I pretty much think that he forfeits his fucking understanding of his own humanity when he snuffed out the other persons humanity.
What a crock of feel-good bullshit. The only saving grace in this whole thing is that the dude is very young, and will probably serve a life sentence with no possibility of parole. Hope he gets off death row and gets to spend a long time as somebody’s bitch.