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clairemann

Arizona Sen. Sinema targeted by conservatives in effort to stall contentious Dem-backed... - 0 views

www.foxnews.com/...arizona-senator-sinema-s1-bill

policy Politics gop

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • A conservative group is running a campaign in Arizona aimed at pressuring moderate Democrat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema into voting against the massive Democrat-backed voting bill called S.1 that's before the Senate. 
  • "Remember when every TV ad was from a politician? Now Democrats want taxpayer-funded political ads," says The Heritage Action ad, which will hit the airwaves Thursday and was first obtained by Fox News. "Democrats also want to register illegal aliens and let people vote without an ID. That means fraud. It's a partisan power grab, and it's wrong." 
  • "[W]e may hear about taxpayer funding of campaigns – despite the fact that this bill includes a provision stating explicitly that no taxpayer money should be used to fund campaigns," Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said. 
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • "They are using the justification of the 2020 experience -- pandemic and challenges that some states had -- as an excuse to push through on a completely party-line vote, a list of agenda items that they've wanted to do for a long time," LaRose said. He added that as Americans learn more about the bill in the hearing Wednesday they will "start to realize that it is a left-wing activist dream list." 
  • But Democrats say S.1 is a critical civil rights bill needed to protect Americans' right to vote in the face of GOP-controlled state legislatures that have introduced bills to tighten voting restrictions. 
clairemann

Whitmer vetoes bill that would have limited her admin's emergency powers in Michigan | ... - 0 views

www.foxnews.com/...-bill-limited-emergency-powers

US policy Politics gop

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed a bill that would have given a degree of power over emergency orders to the state legislature, limiting how long her administration could enforce orders without lawmakers' approval.
  • "Unfortunately, epidemics are not limited to 28 days," Whitmer said in a veto letter, according to MLive.com. "We should not so limit our ability to respond to them."
  • Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Whitmer has faced criticism for her administration's orders. At the height of the pandemic in April, Michigan saw armed protesters storm the state's Capitol in opposition to Whitmer's stay-at-home order.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • This order is similar to one issued by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo that has been the basis for him being blamed for thousands of nursing home deaths.
  • Whitmer's order did say, however, that hospitals could only send residents to nursing homes if the homes had a dedicated unit for those COVID-19, and if they did not, the patients should be sent to a regional hub or alternate facility. Cuomo's order, which was rescinded in May, only said "standard precautions must be maintained, and environmental cleaning made a priority."
clairemann

Lawmakers Renew Fight To Reverse 'Anti-Choice,' 'Blatantly Racist' Hyde Amendment | Huf... - 0 views

www.huffpost.com/...ion_n_605ba083c5b67593e0553922

US policy Politics economics gop

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • The landmark Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade has protected a person’s right to a safe and legal abortion since 1973. But many people, especially low-income women and women of color, still face heightened barriers to access the medical procedure due to the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal health insurance programs like Medicaid from covering abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. 
  • The Hyde Amendment — named after former Illinois Rep. Henry Hyde, a vocally anti-abortion Republican — was passed in 1976 and has been renewed every year since. Congress has the opportunity to repeal the Hyde Amendment during the federal appropriations process each spring.
  • Research shows that 1 in 4 low-income women seeking an abortion are forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term when lawmakers restrict abortion coverage under Medicaid. Studies also show that a woman denied an abortion is more likely to fall into poverty than a woman who is able to get one.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • President Joe Biden has expressed his support for repealing the Hyde Amendment, giving abortion rights advocates hope that the policy could be reversed under the new administration.
  • “Although they might have the right to an abortion on paper, they certainly cannot exercise it,” Murray said of low-income women affected by the Hyde Amendment. “A right on paper but not in practice doesn’t do you much good. And the consequences can be devastating.”
clairemann

High Court Weighs When Police Can Enter Homes Without Warrants | HuffPost - 0 views

www.huffpost.com/...sts_n_605bbc46c5b65d1c28124155

SCOTUS US policy Politics

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • The Supreme Court on Wednesday weighed when police can enter homes without a warrant, with the justices making up scenarios involving elderly neighbors, a cat in a tree, a mask-less social gathering and even a Van Gogh painting to help them resolve the case.
  • While some of the examples were lighthearted, the case concerned a man whose wife was worried that he might kill himself. Police entered his Rhode Island home without a warrant and seized two handguns.
  • “The police are violating the Constitution because they walk in the back door to make sure she’s not lying on the floor?” he said skeptically during 90 minutes of arguments the court heard by phone because of the coronavirus pandemic.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • During the arguments, it seemed clear both liberal and conservative justices believe police should be able to enter a home in limited circumstances, though they worried about how to ensure police aren’t given too much leeway.
  • Justice Samuel Alito said what troubles people about a “caretaking exception” is that “doesn’t seem to have any clear boundaries.”
  • Prior court decisions allow police to enter a home without a warrant in emergencies. Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested allowing police warrantless entry into homes for community caretaking is most likely to be relevant in two scenarios: when an elderly person hasn’t been heard from and where there are potential suicide concerns. He suggested he was worried about police officers “backing away from going into houses” in those scenarios.
clairemann

Ted Cruz Falsely Suggests CDC Guidelines Are Why He Won't Wear A Mask On TV | HuffPost - 0 views

www.huffpost.com/...nes_n_605ba894c5b67ad3871c4770

Politics policy US trump

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Were you worried that Sen. Ted Cruz might run out of new ways to act like a jerk?Never fear. He always comes through in the clutch.
  • “Uh, when I’m talking to the TV camera I’m not going to wear a mask,” Cruz said, adding that all his Senate colleagues have been immunized.
  • Cruz then snidely suggested that going maskless was “the whole point of a vaccine,” and implied he was following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance by not practicing social distancing or wearing a mask in public.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • There are quite a few problems with Cruz’s comments. For starters, CDC guidelines recommend that people who’ve been vaccinated should still wear masks and practice social distancing when in public.
  • “For now, fully vaccinated people should continue to [...] take precautions in public like wearing a well-fitted mask and physical distancing,” reads a March 8 post on the CDC website.
clairemann

Colorado Shooting Suspect Makes 1st Court Appearance | HuffPost - 0 views

www.huffpost.com/...nce_n_605c7398c5b67ad3871d054f

Politics culture policy US crisis

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Three days after he was led away in handcuffs from a Boulder supermarket where 10 people were fatally shot, the suspect appeared in court Thursday for the first time and his defense lawyer asked for a mental health assessment “to address his mental illness.”
  • Alissa, 21, remains held without bail on 10 charges of first-degree murder and a prosecutor said that authorities planned to file more charges.
  • A law enforcement official briefed on the shooting had previously said the suspect’s family told investigators they believed Alissa was suffering some type of mental illness, including delusions.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Relatives have described times when Alissa told them people were following or chasing him, which they said may have contributed to the violence, the official said. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
  • Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa has been jailed for investigation of murder since he was arrested inside the King Soopers supermarket in Boulder on Monday and treated at a hospital for a leg wound. He was to hear the pending charges he faces and his rights as a defendant, and he would not be asked for a plea until later in the judicial process.
  • A rifle, a green tactical vest and a handgun were recovered inside the grocery store, according to an arrest affidavit.
  • “Whatever you’re feeling, whatever you’re thinking, no matter how uncomfortable, it’s completely natural,” Weiner-Davis said. “Be patient with yourself. Additionally, be just as compassionate with the people in your lives who might also be struggling.”
clairemann

Sean Hannity: Biden Stair Stumble Explanation Is Biggest Lie Any White House Ever Told ... - 0 views

www.huffpost.com/...lie_n_605c564bc5b66d30c741aefd

Politics culture policy trump US

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Sean Hannity on Wednesday said that the White House’s explanation for why President Joe Biden stumbled up the steps of Air Force One was the biggest lie ever told in the press room. In response, people on social media vigorously pointed out how wrong he was. 
  • Karine Jean-Pierre, the deputy press secretary, told reporters on the plane, “It’s very windy. I almost fell coming up the steps myself.”
  • “Do you believe the lie that ― and I think it’s a lie ― that Joe Biden was pushed to the ground by a gust of wind three times? Because I don’t think there’s ever been a bigger lie told from that podium.”
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Twitter said, um what?
clairemann

Samantha Bee Exposes What The NCAA's 'Real Message' To Women Was | HuffPost - 0 views

www.huffpost.com/...men_n_605c11f1c5b67ad3871c8acb

economics Politics crisis culture policy

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • “Full Frontal” host Samantha Bee on Wednesday torched the NCAA for its blatantly unequal treatment of female athletes. 
  • The March Madness tournament was mired in controversy over the past week after basketball players and coaches exposed major disparities between the training facilities, food, merchandise and even COVID-19 testing options that were provided to men in Indiana and women in Texas.
  • “Their real message had already been sent: Women athletes are worth less than men,” she said.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Watch her analysis below:
clairemann

Heavily Armed Man In Body Armor Arrested After Walking Into Atlanta Grocery Store | Huf... - 0 views

www.huffpost.com/...mor_n_605c68b7c5b67ad3871cf27f

Politics US crisis culture policy

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Police arrested a man who walked into an Atlanta grocery store with five guns and body armor on Wednesday, just days after a mass shooting at a Colorado supermarket, authorities said.
  • Police were called shortly after 1:30 p.m. to the Atlantic Station Publix where the manager told them an armed man had entered the store and headed straight to the bathroom, police spokesman Officer Anthony Grant said.
  • “A witness observed the male and alerted store management, who then notified police,” Grant told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Officers saw the man leave the bathroom and quickly held him for questioning. According to police, his weapons included two long guns and three pistols, all of which were concealed.
clairemann

Democrats Say Agency Run By Trump Holdover Is Delaying Stimulus Checks | HuffPost - 0 views

www.huffpost.com/...irs_n_605bae35c5b6531eed018de9

Politics US pandemic trump

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Millions of disabled and retired Americans are still waiting for their $1,400 stimulus payments because of a holdup at the Social Security Administration, House Democrats said Wednesday. 
  • Several Democrats, including Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), had previously urged President Joe Biden to fire Saul, a Donald Trump appointee whose term doesn’t expire until 2025. Biden has hesitated to do so even though he’s fired other Trump holdovers in other agencies before their terms have ended. 
  • The IRS has sent more than 127 million payments so far. Neal and other members of his committee earlier this week asked Social Security and the IRS to explain the delayed payments to Social Security beneficiaries. 
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • “Social Security staff is working day and night with Treasury and IRS representatives to ensure that the electronic file of Social Security and SSI recipients is complete, accurate, and ready to be used to issue payments,” the spokesperson said. 
  • Most Americans receive the payments based on their tax returns, but people who don’t owe federal income taxes aren’t required to file returns. In the previous two rounds of payments, the IRS used payment information on file with Social Security to send checks to retirement or disability beneficiaries who are non-filers. 
clairemann

AstraZeneca Says Vaccine 76% Effective After Its Spat With Public Health Regulators | H... - 0 views

www.huffpost.com/...lth_n_605c1113c5b65d1c28127544

Politics US crisis pandemic

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • AstraZeneca updated an analysis of its COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, saying it was 76% effective at preventing the disease, after an extraordinary rebuke by top public health officials earlier this week.
  • The company said it analyzed data from more than 32,000 participants in a clinical trial and found the vaccine is 100% effective at preventing severe or critical cases of the coronavirus should patients be infected, a significant finding that will help blunt the effect of the pandemic worldwide. The vaccine was also 85% effective in patients 65 and older, a group among the most vulnerable to COVID-19.
  • In an unusual move, an independent panel published a late-night rebuke of those figures, alleging AstraZeneca had cherry-picked data that gave an “incomplete view” of the vaccine.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • “Decisions like this are what erode public trust in the scientific process,”
  • Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the U.S., predicted Tuesday that the AstraZeneca shot would likely “turn out to be a good vaccine,” saying he hoped the company would combat any public mistrust of its inoculations.
clairemann

U.S. Supreme Court weighs Delaware case about politics and judgeships - 0 views

www.delawareonline.com/...3592297001

Politics SCOTUS policy US

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • "He's really interested here in pursuing a theory that he read about in the law review and not really getting a judgeship," Michael McConnell, one of the attorney's representing Carney, told the justices. 
  • Adams, a former Democrat who later registered as unaffiliated, filed a federal lawsuit in 2017 challenging the political balance requirement claiming it excluded candidates based on their political affiliation. 
  • Yet Adams never applied for any of the judgeships, even before switching party affiliations, McConnell told the court
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • The arguments were originally scheduled to be heard in March, but the coronavirus pandemic canceled that hearing.
    • clairemann
      clairemann on 25 Mar 21
       
      I was going to go and watch!
  • "As long as this constitutional provision is in effect, and he's an independent, he's not going to get a position," she said. "So why would we insist that he has to file an application?"
  • "Your client said that he was interested in serving as a judge on any court and yet there were several opportunities for him to apply to judgeships for which he was qualified and he didn't do it," Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. asked Finger. "So why shouldn't we not take his standing assertions as serious?"
  • The issue has gained some attention outside the First State since nearly two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware, making the state's courts a prime venue to arbitrate corporate law.
  • he Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, filed a brief in support of Adams arguing Delaware unconstitutionally discriminates against those who are not members of the two main political parties. "The Supreme Court should make clear that the work of a judge is not dependent on political interests and that supposed concerns over 'political balance' may not be used to justify partisan tests for judicial office," according to Cato's website. 
clairemann

Justices to consider appointments clause challenge to administrative patent judges - SC... - 0 views

www.scotusblog.com/...o-administrative-patent-judges

Politics SCOTUS policy US

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • The primary issue is whether the administrative patent judges of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office were unconstitutionally appointed in violation of the Constitution’s appointments clause.
  • The answer turns on whether they are “principal officers” of the United States. If they are, the secondary issue is what to do about it. All three parties were unhappy with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s decision and each petitioned the Supreme Court for certiorari.
  • In the AIA, Congress created a new adjudicatory regime in which almost anyone could attack the validity of an issued patent. The AIA also created a board of administrative judges — the Patent Trial and Appeal Board — empowered to issue what the AIA termed final decisions on the validity of a challenged patent.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • But unlike Article III judges, and unlike the heads of executive branch agencies and other top officials who are appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, the patent judges are appointed by the head of a department (the secretary of commerce) “in consultation with” the head of their agency (the director of the USPTO).
  • The Supreme Court agreed to consider two questions: (1) whether administrative patent judges are principal officers who must be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, or instead inferior officers whose appointment Congress has permissibly vested in a department head; and (2) if they are principal officers, whether the Federal Circuit properly cured the appointments clause defect by severing the application of statutory tenure protection to those judges.
clairemann

Court revives lawsuit from student seeking nominal damages for free-speech violation at... - 0 views

www.scotusblog.com/...ch-violation-at-public-college

Politics SCOTUS US policy

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • By a vote of 8-1 in Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski, the court allowed a Georgia student to proceed with a First Amendment lawsuit against college officials even after the officials abandoned the speech restrictions at issue.
  • The student, Chike Uzuegbunam, is an evangelical Christian who was handing out religious literature on the campus at Georgia Gwinnett College when a campus police officer told him that he could only distribute literature by reserving one of two designating areas
  • Uzuegbunam had asked for nominal damages – an award that is small or largely symbolic, such as a dollar – in addition to his request for an order blocking the college from enforcing the now-rescinded policies, that was not enough to allow the case to continue.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • In an opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas, the court explained that because Uzuegbunam showed that he was injured and that his injury resulted from the officials’ conduct, the question before the justices was whether he meets the third criterion to have a legal right to sue: Is he seeking a remedy that is likely to correct the constitutional violation in the case?
  • Because nominal damages were available as a remedy in early English and American law, Thomas continued, a request for nominal damages will meet the third criterion to have a legal right to sue as long as the plaintiff’s claim is based on a violation that has already finished.
  • “Uzuegbunam experienced a completed violation of his constitutional rights” when the officials enforced the college’s speech policies, and because “nominal damages can redress Uzuegbunam’s injury even if he cannot or chooses not to quantify that harm in economic terms,” his case can proceed.
clairemann

Court won't allow Alabama execution without a pastor - SCOTUSblog - 0 views

www.scotusblog.com/...ama-execution-without-a-pastor

Politics SCOTUS US policy crisis

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • The Supreme Court on Thursday night ruled that the execution of an Alabama man must remain on hold unless the state allows the man, Willie Smith III, to have his pastor by his side in the execution chamber.
  • However, the Associated Press reported shortly after the Supreme Court’s ruling that Alabama had called off Smith’s execution, which had been scheduled to take place under an execution warrant that designated Thursday as the execution date. The Supreme Court issued its ruling at around midnight eastern time – or about 11 p.m. central time, just one hour before the execution warrant expired.
  • Four justices — Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett — all signed an opinion, written by Kagan, that said the state failed to adequately justify its policy of barring spiritual advisers from the execution chamber.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Three justices — Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh — indicated that they would have allowed the execution to go forward under Alabama’s policy. The remaining two justices – Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch – did not publicly disclose how they voted, but at least one of them must have voted with the three liberal justices and Barrett to prevent the execution from occurring without a spiritual adviser.
  • Murphy v. Collier. In that case, a Buddhist inmate challenged Texas’ policy of allowing Christian and Muslim spiritual advisers in the execution chamber while excluding clergy representing other religions, arguing that the policy discriminated against him. The court put the Buddhist inmate’s execution on hold, and Kavanaugh wrote a separate opinion suggesting that one solution would be for the state to bar all spiritual advisers from the execution chamber. Both Texas and Alabama adopted that policy.
  • Kagan explained that any restrictions on Smith’s religious rights must satisfy a stringent test – which, she concluded, Alabama’s policy cannot. Kagan acknowledged that prison security is a compelling interest, but she emphasized that the federal government and some states have allowed clergy members without a connection to the government to attend executions without resulting in any security concerns.
clairemann

Court allows execution of Corey Johnson to proceed after COVID-19 diagnosis - SCOTUSblog - 0 views

www.scotusblog.com/...oceed-after-covid-19-diagnosis

Politics SCOTUS US policy crisis

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • The justices on Thursday night denied two last-minute appeals by Corey Johnson, who sought to postpone his execution so that he could recover from COVID-19, which he contracted in prison after spending most of his life on death row. Johnson also argued that he was ineligible for the death penalty on the basis of intellectual disability and that he should have been allowed to seek a sentencing reduction under a 2018 prison-reform law.
  • The two appeals were the subject of a flurry of last-minute litigation, in multiple federal courts, that reached the justices minutes before Johnson’s originally scheduled execution time of 6 p.m. on Thursday. In two unsigned orders issued around 10 p.m. (available here and here), the court denied both appeals.
  • Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan indicated that they would have put the execution on hold based on Johnson’s COVID diagnosis. Sotomayor and Kagan separately indicated that they also would have granted a stay based on Johnson’s other legal arguments.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • In their first appeal, Johnson’s lawyers raised two issues: intellectual disability and eligibility for resentencing.
  • In the second appeal, lawyers for Johnson and Higgs contended that putting their clients to death by lethal injection while their lungs were still recovering from damage due to the coronavirus would subject them to unconstitutional levels of suffering, in violation of the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
clairemann

Reversing several lower courts, justices allow execution of Lisa Montgomery - SCOTUSblog - 0 views

www.scotusblog.com/...w-execution-of-lisa-montgomery

SCOTUS Politics US policy

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • The Supreme Court on Tuesday night cleared the way for the execution of Lisa Montgomery, the first woman to be executed by the federal government in 68 years.
  • In a series of brief, unsigned orders, the Supreme Court reversed a pair of rulings from federal appeals courts that had put Montgomery’s execution on hold, and it denied two other last-minute requests in which Montgomery argued she was entitled to a postponement. In two of the orders, the court’s three liberal justices indicated that they dissented and would not have allowed the execution to proceed.
  • Montgomery, who was sentenced in Missouri, argued that the Department of Justice failed to comply with a Missouri requirement that prisoners be given at least 90 days’ notice before an execution.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • The statute does not apply to a state’s procedural rules on issues like scheduling the execution date, the government told the justices. In a two-sentence order, the court lifted the D.C. Circuit’s stay. Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan indicated that they would have left the stay in place.
  • A third case involved whether Montgomery was ineligible for the death penalty due to mental illness. Montgomery’s attorneys argued that she had bipolar disorder, suffered intense hallucinations and continued to experience psychological effects of severe childhood sexual abuse.
  • Finally, Montgomery argued in a fourth case that the Justice Department violated a federal regulation when it scheduled her execution.
  • “If the date designated for execution passes by reason of a stay of execution, then a new date shall be designated promptly by the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons when the stay is lifted.”
  • Montgomery was the first woman to be executed by the federal government since 1953. No other women are currently on federal death row.
  • Montgomery also became the 11th person to be put to death by the federal government since last July, when the Trump administration ended a 17-year moratorium on federal executions.
clairemann

Justices allow execution of Alfred Bourgeois to proceed - SCOTUSblog - 0 views

www.scotusblog.com/...of-alfred-bourgeois-to-proceed

SCOTUS Politics US policy crisis

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Alfred Bourgeois became the 10th person to be put to death by the federal government this year, after the Supreme Court on Friday evening denied his application for a delay of the execution. Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor indicated that they would have granted the application.
  • Federal law and Supreme Court precedent ban the execution of someone who is mentally disabled. Through his counsel, Bourgeois told the justices that he met the current psychological standards for intellectual disability, which became the required legal standard after he was sentenced
  • Bourgeois was convicted in 2004 of murdering his two-year old daughter while making a delivery to Corpus Christi Naval Air Station in Texas. Evidence at trial showed that he had beaten his daughter for a month before her death.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • As a child, she said, their mother beat him “over and over” due to his intellectual shortcomings.
  • First, Supreme Court decisions in 2017 and 2019 made clear that under federal law, the relevant standards for intellectual disability in capital cases are the current definitions by the American Psychiatric Association and the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Bourgeois maintained that he met both.
  • Since then, Bourgeois told the justices, the playing field has changed in two ways.
  • The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 in Atkins v. Virginia that it is unconstitutional to execute someone who is mentally disabled. After receiving his death sentence, Bourgeois sought a ruling from a federal court in Texas that he was intellectually disabled and thus barred from execution. His appeal was unsuccessful.
  • Second, in the summer of 2019, the federal government began scheduling executions for the first time in more than 15 years.
  • “The Court today allows the execution of Alfred Bourgeois to proceed even though Bourgeois, who has an IQ between 70 and 75, argues that he is intellectually disabled under current clinical standards,” Sotomayor wrote. She argued that the court should have ordered a stay and taken up Bourgeois’ appeal in order to resolve whether his execution (and those of similarly situated people on death row) is barred by the Federal Death Penalty Act’s prohibition on executing people with intellectual disabilities.
clairemann

Justices decline to block sixth federal execution this year - SCOTUSblog - 0 views

www.scotusblog.com/...th-federal-execution-this-year

SCOTUS Politics US policy

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • The Supreme Court on Tuesday evening declined to postpone the execution of William Emmett LeCroy, Jr., who was sentenced to death for raping and killing 30-year-old Joann Tiesler while on probation in 2001.
  • Due to the coronavirus pandemic, LeCroy argued that his execution should have been postponed to allow for the attendance of his longtime lead attorney.
  • LeCroy’s legal team noted that his lead attorney was diagnosed with leukemia in 2010 and argued that the attorney’s chronic illness and vulnerability to COVID-19 made him unable to attend LeCroy’s execution.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • The Department of Justice responded that the district court was correct in denying his motion to postpone his execution because LeCroy did not meet the standards for a stay of execution.
  • “neither the Constitution nor any statute or regulation grants petitioner any right to an execution date that facilitates attendance by all of his (or his preferred) counsel.”
  • LeCroy was the sixth person on federal death row to be executed this year, following the resumption of federal executions after a 17-year hiatus. A seventh person, Christopher Vialva, is scheduled to be executed on Thursday.
clairemann

Justices deny request to postpone federal execution of man who killed as teenager - SCO... - 0 views

www.scotusblog.com/...-of-man-who-killed-as-teenager

SCOTUS Politics US history

shared by clairemann on 25 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to postpone the execution of Christopher André Vialva, who was sentenced to death for the 1999 murders and carjacking of Todd and Stacie Bagley, two youth ministers from Iowa who had agreed to give Vialva a ride after stopping to use a pay phone in Texas. Vialva, who was 19 at the time of the crime, was executed by lethal injection on Thursday evening at a federal prison in Indiana.
  • Vialva’s legal team argued that the Department of Justice violated the Federal Death Penalty Act and the department’s own regulations by scheduling Vialva’s execution without a separate court order and execution warrant that followed certain procedures in Texas law.
  • “mirror the pre-execution procedures” used by the state in which the inmate was convicted
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Vialva’s attorneys argued that Texas law requires a minimum of 91 days between the order setting the date and the execution, and they said the federal government was obliged to follow that provision of state law.
  • The Federal Death Penalty Act’s requirement that a United States marshal must implement a federal execution in accordance with the sentencing state’s laws “does not require the federal government to adhere to state procedures that do not effectuate death,” the government said.
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