Supreme Court bans juvenile executions

[David S]

The Supreme court has assumed the roll of arbiter of the constitution. Here are some things Thomas Jefferson said about that:
   "The question whether the judges are invested with exclusive authority to decide on the constitutionality of a law has been heretofore a subject of consideration with me in the exercise of official duties. Certainly there is not a word in the Constitution which has given that power to them more than to the Executive or Legislative branches."

    —Thomas Jefferson to W. H. Torrance, 1815. ME 14:303
 
   "But the Chief Justice says, 'There must be an ultimate arbiter somewhere.' True, there must; but does that prove it is either party? The ultimate arbiter is the people of the Union, assembled by their deputies in convention, at the call of Congress or of two-thirds of the States. Let them decide to which they mean to give an authority claimed by two of their organs. And it has been the peculiar wisdom and felicity of our Constitution, to have provided this peaceable appeal, where that of other nations is at once to force."

   —Thomas Jefferson to William Johnson, 1823. ME 15:451
 
 
   "The Constitution . . . meant that its coordinate branches should be checks on each other. But the opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves in their own sphere of action but for the Legislature and Executive also in their spheres, would make the Judiciary a despotic branch."

   —Thomas Jefferson to Abigail Adams, 1804. ME 11:51
 
   "To consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions [is] a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. Our judges are as honest as other men and not more so. They have with others the same passions for party, for power, and the privilege of their corps. Their maxim is boni judicis est ampliare jurisdictionem [good justice is broad jurisdiction], and their power the more dangerous as they are in office for life and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the elective control. The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal, knowing that to whatever hands confided, with the corruptions of time and party, its members would become despots. It has more wisely made all the departments co-equal and co-sovereign within themselves."
   —Thomas Jefferson to William C. Jarvis, 1820. ME 15:277
 
   "In denying the right [the Supreme Court usurps] of exclusively explaining the Constitution, I go further than [others] do, if I understand rightly [this] quotation from the Federalist of an opinion that 'the judiciary is the last resort in relation to the other departments of the government, but not in relation to the rights of the parties to the compact under which the judiciary is derived.' If this opinion be sound, then indeed is our Constitution a complete felo de se [act of suicide]. For intending to establish three departments, coordinate and independent, that they might check and balance one another, it has given, according to this opinion, to one of them alone the right to prescribe rules for the government of the others, and to that one, too, which is unelected by and independent of the nation. For experience has already shown that the impeachment it has provided is not even a scare-crow . . . The Constitution on this hypothesis is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please."

   —Thomas Jefferson to Spencer Roane, 1819. ME 15:212

[Ebowed]

Not necessarily, but lighter prison sentences would be good, let alone abolition of the death penalty.

Like, 1 year for a rape, 6 months for a murderer, 2 weeks for kidnapping...

Yeah I can see that work real well in society.  We should just all forgive and forget, like Jesus ordererd.

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Yes.  God ordered the execution of people for certain crimes.

Name every crime that God ordered execution for in the New Testament, as the Law of Moses was replaced by Jesus.

[Richard]

Not necessarily, but lighter prison sentences would be good, let alone abolition of the death penalty.

Like, 1 year for a rape, 6 months for a murderer, 2 weeks for kidnapping...

Yeah I can see that work real well in society.  We should just all forgive and forget, like Jesus ordererd.

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Yes.  God ordered the execution of people for certain crimes.

Name every crime that God ordered execution for in the New Testament, as the Law of Moses was replaced by Jesus.

Not replaced, fulfilled.  Nice of you to ignore the first part of the message too.

[Ebowed]

Not necessarily, but lighter prison sentences would be good, let alone abolition of the death penalty.

Like, 1 year for a rape, 6 months for a murderer, 2 weeks for kidnapping...

Yeah I can see that work real well in society.  We should just all forgive and forget, like Jesus ordererd.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Yes.  God ordered the execution of people for certain crimes.

Name every crime that God ordered execution for in the New Testament, as the Law of Moses was replaced by Jesus.

Not replaced, fulfilled.  Nice of you to ignore the first part of the message too.

If they were fulfilled then they don't need to be paid for by members of society.  Unneccesary bloodshed, man.

I ignored the first part of the message because I had nothing to say.  I mean, life without parole isn't even an option in Nebraska, but capital punishment is.  That's not right.  "Forgive and forget" doesn't sound like a bad idea, but I agree that it generally wouldn't work.  Life without parole is the best option.

[??????????]

Ebowed would you support forced hard labor, like slavery, over the death penalty?

Hard labor for a crime is not the same as slavery.......

The 13th Amendment allows for the use of slavery for convicted felons. Do you support that idea?

[Ebowed]

Ebowed would you support forced hard labor, like slavery, over the death penalty?

Hard labor for a crime is not the same as slavery.......

The 13th Amendment allows for the use of slavery for convicted felons. Do you support that idea?

Clearly not; I don't believe in slavery.  But hard labor isn't the same thing.

[Cashcow]

Prison is slavery, Ebowed. It is involuntary servitude. In all realistic situations it can be considered slavery.

[Peter]

Prison is slavery, Ebowed. It is involuntary servitude. In all realistic situations it can be considered slavery.

The 13th amendment does draw a distinction between slavery and involuntary servitude. Slavery tends to involve viewing people as being owned by somebody for life and therefore as property to be bought and sold. Involuntary servitude is simply being forced to do something by somebody else as opposed to ownership.

[Cashcow]

There is no discernable difference in prison. The criminal's rights are stripped from him, and he is given a new set, which can essentially include any type of forced labor that those in charge desire.

I am using slavery as a generic term, not one which would imply a market.