Yet Another Supreme Court Error

Justice Kennedy confidently pronounced that only six jurisdictions made child rape a capital offense.

He missed one. A rather big one -- the federal government itself, which added child rape as a death-eligible crime in the Uniform Code of Military Justice in 2006.

Kennedy specifically relied upon the supposed "fact" that federal law did not make child rape a capital offense. Whoops!

It's a bit of a blow that none of the conservative dissenters caught it either -- or at least they didn't say anything. Had they mentioned it, it would have made no difference; Kennedy would have just revised his opinion slightly. So I'll pretend this was a trap laid for Kennedy by Scalia.

The point is, I guess, that facts don't matter. A seventh or eighth or ninth or tenth jurisdiction acting to make child rape punishable by death would have made no difference to Kennedy; he, as usual, reasons backwards from conclusion to premises, so the premises don't matter to him in the least. He's guided by his "conscience" as well as the consciences of European judges.

Hell, five additional states were deciding the issue, and most would have of course made child rape a capital offense. Next year, it might have been ten more. So much for the "national consensus" Kennedy claims to have based his opinion on.

I'm curious as to how the Supreme Court will deal with all these incontrovertible errors of fact it's making lately -- do they just "amend and revise" their remarks like Congressmen do? Or do their errors now have the force of law?

Via Hot Air.

Whoops! Double post. I think I was writing this just as Gabe was posting.

Oh well -- just call it Bonus Bile. How can I afford to provide you with bonus bile, free of charge? Three words: Volume, volume, volume.

posted by Ace at 12:02 PM

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