In its decision last week banning the death penalty for individuals convicted of raping children, the Supreme Court made a factual error, a military-law blog found. The New York Times picked up the news today.
The flub: when the Supreme Court noted that only six states allow execution of child-rapists, it left out the fact that the the US congress in 2006 voted to allow the military to execute soldiers convicted of that offense.
Wrote US Marine Corps Reserve Colonel Dwight Sullivan:
That is a congressional statute expressly authorizing the death penalty for the rape of a child. How come neither side in the Kennedy case even mentioned it?
The majority's central argument is a national consensus exists against the execution of criminals for offenses other than murder. Does the military provision detract from the case? The New York Times notes:
Any losing party in the Supreme Court can file a petition within 25 days asking the justices to reconsider their decision. Granting such a petition requires a majority vote. Although these petitions are filed rather often, they are, not surprisingly, almost never granted.
