I Miss Karl Rove

Remember the good old days when everyday events were coordinated by Karl Rove? Today could have counted as one but, alas, Karl Rove is nowhere to be found.

Child rapists can’t be executed, Supreme Court rules
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday that child rapists cannot be executed, concluding that capital punishment for crimes against individuals can be applied only to murderers.

Patrick Kennedy, 43, was on Louisiana’s death row after being convicted of raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter.

The ruling stemmed from the case of Patrick Kennedy, who appealed the 2003 death sentence he received in Louisiana after being convicted of raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion that execution in this case would violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, citing “evolving standards of decency” in the United States.

FBI arrests hundreds in child sex crackdown
In a series of raids, authorities have arrested more than 300 members of prostitution operations and removed 21 juveniles from sex-selling rings, the FBI announced Wednesday.

FBI Director Robert Mueller announces the arrests of hundreds suspected in child sex rings.

The sweeps were conducted in 16 cities nationwide over the past five days, authorities said.

“Our top priority in these cases has always been to identify children victims and move swiftly to remove them from these dangerous environments,” FBI Director Robert Mueller said.

Mueller said this week’s sweeps bring to 433 the number of child victims recovered in the five years since the FBI began its Innocence Lost initiative. The program was designed to combat a growing problem of underage prostitution.

That makes for an interesting contrast: the executive branch (currently controlled by Republicans with an FBI head appointed by President Bush) is busting up child sex rings and protecting children while those latte-sipping libruls on the Supreme Court are sparing the most gruesome child rapists. Sadly, the left is but a shadow of its old self these days without Rove to play off of, so this story is not getting the exposure it deserves.

As far as the death penalty goes, I’m mildly against it. I don’t favor it and would vote against it at a state level if given a chance, but am strongly opposed to SCOTUS getting involved and overruling the desires of state residents. Allah goes into more detail about that here.

FILED UNDER: Humor, Law and the Courts, Supreme Court, US Politics, , , , , , , , ,
Robert Prather
About Robert Prather
Robert Prather contributed over 80 posts to OTB between October 2005 and July 2013. He previously blogged at the now defunct Insults Unpunished. Follow him on Twitter @RobPrather.

Comments

  1. Ben says:

    Your snark went over my head, but I pretty much agree with your substantive point.

  2. DL says:

    At least one of this nation’s biggest problems might be solved if just once we had the courage to use the constitution and impeach one of these robed gods.

    Should have started with the evil Supremes that created emminations from pennumbras and unleashed a wave of murder of 50 million innocent humans by their own mothers: complicite with the medical profession.

    They need to be “mustered out” the minute they impose their personal wishes upon us instead of interpreting law.

    I’m personally against the liberal use of the death penalty.

  3. davod says:

    Under no circumstances is a child rape as “morally depraved” as murder?.

    “Really?

    Perhaps Anthony Kennedy didn’t read his own fucking decision.

    L. H. [the 8-year-old rape victim] was transported to the Children’s Hospital. An expert in pediatric forensic medicine testified that L. H.’s injuries were the most severe he had seen from a sexual assault in his four years of practice. A laceration to the left wall of the vagina had separated her cervix from the back of her vagina, causing her rectum to protrude into the vaginal structure. Her entire perineum was torn from the posterior fourchette to the anus. The injuries required emergency surgery.”

  4. Samuel C says:

    Interesting point delivered in the a sophomoric way. If I wanted that attitude I would go read Little Green Footballs, I come here for civil well spoken opinion not ideological cheerleading.

  5. Hal says:

    If I wanted that attitude I would go read Little Green Footballs, I come here for civil well spoken opinion not ideological cheerleading.

    +1

  6. Hal says:

    while those latte-sipping libruls on the Supreme Court are sparing the most gruesome child rapists.

    I might also point out that the supremes aren’t “sparing the most gruesome child rapists”. I mean, you can can have the attitude that anything but the death penalty is insufficient, but “sparing” really is a framing that is completely disingenuous and more fit to Karl Rove’s previous line of work than anything else.

    Your simply setting up a straw man, burning it and then getting high off the smoke. Might be fun for a while, but eventually you’re going to have to deal with the real world.

  7. Samuel and Hal,

    Apparently my post didn’t come off as I intended it; I was being a wise ass. I figured my spelling of “libruls” would be a dead giveaway.

    It is amazing to me how much the situation has changed without Rove in the picture.

  8. Davod,

    We’re in agreement, I think. I dislike the decision and would prefer that it hadn’t happened. Your point about him not reading his own decision occurred to me as well.

    DL,

    I’ve considered the point about impeaching justices before and it seems to have some appeal until you realize that the other side will do the same thing if the bar for impeachment were lowered.

    Impeachment is a political process, even with all the trappings of process. Not a good idea, even if it would provide some short-term relief.

  9. Hal says:

    k. data point taken 😉 calibration made.