Sammy(Alito), You're Doin A Heckuva Job!

Alito

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Ok, I know it's just one case so far, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Alito part with the conservative bloc of the SCOTUS.

By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer 32 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - New Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito split with the court's conservatives Wednesday night, refusing to let Missouri execute a death-row inmate contesting lethal injection.

Alito, handling his first case, sided with inmate Michael Taylor, who had won a stay from an appeals court earlier in the evening. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas supported lifting the stay, but Alito joined the remaining five members in turning down Missouri's last-minute request to allow a midnight execution.

The court's split vote Wednesday night ended a frenzied day of filings. Missouri twice asked the justices to intervene and permit the execution, while Taylor's lawyers filed two more appeals seeking delays.

Reporters and witnesses had gathered at the state prison awaiting word from the high court on whether to go ahead with the execution.

An appeals court will now review Taylor's claim that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment, a claim also used by two Florida death-row inmates that won stays from the Supreme Court over the past week. The court has agreed to use one of the cases to clarify how inmates may bring last-minute challenges to the way they will be put to death.

Maybe this guy isn't evil afterall.

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Curious to read why he did this. You know the reason the Supreme Court is called into it isn't always the main point of the case. For instance this appeal could have been rejected by a lower court on evidentiary or procedural grounds, and Alito might have decided that whatever evidence they refused to see, etc., was pertinant.

I have a feeling that if this was a decision on whether or not lethal injection was really unconstitutional it would have been a bigger deal.

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Yes, I'm curious too. I've not yet been able to find anything more specific on what the majority opinion was though.

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I'd be interested to read why the Supreme Court took the case, and (like both of you) how each of the justices voted the way they did.

My hope is that this case shows that Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito are both willing to rule based on the facts of the case itself, and not on the issue, but we'll see.

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Don't get your hopes up, Davad, it was just a ploy that the conservatives exploited because of its insignificance.

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I was pleasantly surprised to see Alito part with the conservative bloc of the SCOTUS.

it was just a ploy that the conservatives exploited because of its insignificance.

Wow, you mean the Bush appointee doesn't move in lockstep with the other conservative judges? That's inconceivable! King George will have his head! Bush must be infinitely disappointed!

It's just one decision in what's already a life-long career. And it's a sign that Alito is his own man, not a Bush stooge.

My question, did he already acquaint himself with the facts of the case very quickly, or did he just vote yea/nay based on his gut?

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hoipefully one day SCOTUS will place liberals on the endanged species list.

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Don't get your hopes up, Davad, it was just a ploy that the conservatives exploited because of its insignificance.

Actually, no. If you actually read his testimony before the Senate, you would see it is in keeping with his judicial philosophy. It is not a ploy. it is not a sell out. It is demonstrating that he is his own man, and not a pawn for anyone, just as was promised during the confirmation process.

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