Executions

Crime

Did America Just Learn That We Have The Death Penalty In Some States?

We live in a country where some states have the death penalty. Capital punishment. The "ultimate justice," people like Rick Perry say with a smirk, as if justice that ends in death is somehow preferable to justice that respects the dignity of human life. Do you not know what those sanitized words mean? Do you not know what the death penalty is? Why the hell are people so worked up over Troy Davis?

Andrew Cuomo

Morning Docket: 09.22.11

* It took SCOTUS more than four hours to write one sentence. But oh, to be a fly on the wall last night when they decided to deny a stay of execution for Troy Davis. [New York Times] * AT&T wants to take the DOJ’s antitrust case to trial. This must be some sort of […]

Bankruptcy

Morning Docket: 09.16.11

* SCOTUS halted Duane Buck’s execution in Texas last night. How did it take 16 years for this to happen? Slow and steady doesn’t win the race on death row. [CBS News] * Casey Anthony owes the state of Florida a pretty penny. At this rate, she may as well go to law school, because […]

Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 08.08.11

* Interesting historical perspective from Professor Dave Hoffman on the current debate over legal education. One critic wrote that “there are too many lawyers in this country,” “many of them are not busy,” and “many of them are on the margin of starvation” — back in 1932. [Concurring Opinions] * And some thoughts on the […]

Death Penalty

Should Executions Be Televised?

In a New York Times op-ed, mentioned previously in Morning Docket, Professor Zachary Shemtob and I argue that executions should be made public. More specifically, we argue that executions should be broadcast live or recorded for future release, on the web or on television. Public execution has some unsavory connotations, perhaps dating back to the […]