Supreme Court Case Analysis

(Lamar 34). Many in fovor of the death penalty feel that if a sentence of death is handed

As part of their journalism class students produced a newspaper with a collection of student-written articles about teen pregnancy and the impact of divorce on kids. As a result, the principal made the decision to delete the two articles from that edition of the school’s newspaper. Consequently, three students sued the school district alleging violation of their First Amendment rights.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court had o decided to deny the suspect appeal because of the horrific crime he performed that cause everyone to throw up a red flag interest being conflict from his lawyers. In addition the former governor at that time Gov. Jim Hodges reject the request and would be the first inmate to be executed since David Riceville of Duncan. In addition also in this case young accomplice where also sentence to death and still is appealing his conviction and Arthur Ray Jones the driver was sentence to 35 years from driving away from the scene calming to b drunk at the

This time, the Supreme Court granted the writ of certiorari, but held that Oklahoma’s use of midazolam as the initial drug in the execution protocol, the same drug used in Clayton Lockett’s execution, did not violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan dissented, and Breyer’s strong 41 page dissent seemed to invite a facial challenge to the death penalty.

Inmates in Oklahoma State Penitentiary, located in McAlester, Oklahoma, sued state officials after the botched execution of Clayton Lockett on April 29, 2014 led to Lockett laying in agonizing pain for 40 minutes after receiving the lethal injection cocktail, waiting for his heart attack to kill him (Konrad, Web). Richard E. Glossip and the other death row inmates petition the Court, believing that the use of midazolam as the initial drug of execution violated the Eight Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment (S. Ct, p.1). The Supreme Court of the United States of America denied the motion in a 5-4 ruling, stating prisoners “failed to establish a likelihood of success on the merits of their claim that the

This landmark supreme court cases and the constitution focuses on a case involving expressive conduct and what is for many a deeply cherished symbol of America- The U.S. flag. In a closely divided (5-4) ruling, the Supreme Court held that the states could not forbid burning the U.S. flag in protest because doing so would violate the freedom of speech protected by the first

On December 2000, the Carr brothers committed a series of crimes which included the brutal rapping, robbery, kidnaping, and shooting of five young men and women. After a joint sentencing proceeding, a Kansas jury sentenced Reginald and Jonathan Carr to death. On appeal, the Carrs argued that their Eighth Amendment right to an individualized sentencing was violated both by the trial judge’s refusal to separate their cases and the failure to instruct the jury that” mitigating circumstances need not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt”. The Kansas Supreme Court agreed and called off the death sentences by holding that the trial judge failed to do the necessary analysis on the issue. The court also held that the jurors may have been prevented from

In the case of Kennedy V. Louisiana Patrick Kennedy was found guilty in raping and sodomizing his eight-year-old stepdaughter in a Louisiana courtroom. Mr. Kennedy refused to plead guilty and stated the crime was committed by two young boys from the neighborhood. He was convicted sentenced to death 2003. On March 2nd 1988 the victim sustained severe injuries; the injuries required emergency surgery because the rape was so brutal. Louisiana law authorized capital punishment for the rape of a child twelve years and younger. Mr. Patrick Kennedy challenged his sentence under the eighteen amendments as cruel and unusual punishment. The Louisiana Supreme Court declined the challenged that the death penalty was not too harsh for such a wicked crime. In a Supreme Court decision Coker v. Georgia 1977 the United States Supreme Court concluded that capital punishment for rape of an adult women was not applicable if the victim is a child and if it did not result or contemplated in result of a death. The court discussed a number of Supreme Court case related to child vulnerability and the death penalty. In the case of Roper V. Simmons the court ruled that the death penalty could not be applied to a person if the crime was committed when they were under the age of eighteen. In another case, Atkins V. Virginia the death penalty could not be placed on a mentally ill person. The petitioner Kennedy argued that in all these cases they do not establish conformity.

On June 1, 1985 Kathy Wilhoit was murdered. Greg Wilhot was left a single father to care for his four months old and fourteen months old. Nearly a year after Kathy was murdered Greg was accused, arrested and charged with the murder. The evidence to convict Greg of murder was a bite mark on Kathy’s body, that two dental “experts” matched with Greg's bite. This man was behind bars with two young daughters at home, so his parents decided to hire one of Oklahoma’s “best” defense attorneys. Unfortunately this attorney had taken to drinking and neglected his responsibilities as a lawyer. Greg Wilhoit was sentenced to death. In an article by Nancy Vollertsen, Greg's sister, she wrote a quote from Greg saying “"At the sentencing," Wilhoit said, "the judge told me I was to die by lethal injection. Then he said, 'But if that fails, we'll kill you by electrocution. If the power goes out, we'll hang you. If the rope breaks, we'll take you out back and shoot you.'" Needless to say after eight years in prison twelve new odontologists found that the bite mark could not be Greg’s. Unfortunately, these cases of finding innocent men guilty and are all too common. Luckily, Greg was exonerated before he received his incorrect punishment of death. (Vollersten) Though Greg was lucky, that is not always the case with capital punishment and innocent men are convicted and killed. Capital punishment it too subjective to mistakes and biases to be taken into consideration. As well

Terry Clark was the only prisoner on death row to be executed before the penalty repeal in 2009. In 1987, a jury found Clark guilty after hearing gruesome testimony that he abducted, raped, and shot his young victim three times in the head before he buried her body in a shallow grave on his brother’s ranch. Unsurprisingly, Clark filed an appeal with the New Mexico Supreme Court after the lower court’s ruling and sentencing. In State v. Clark, 772 P.2d 322 (1989), the court carefully considered Clarks many claims of trial misconduct.

I have learned that throughout history there has been debates about powers reserved for just national and state goverments, while some powers are reserved for both governments. Many of these debates have been witnessed in supreme court cases where the judges input judical review. Some of the court cases that have allowed be to observe the differences in national and state government are Barron v. Baltimore, and McCulloch v. Maryland. I have been able to observe these differences and learn through lecture and through my own personal studying. I have found that using studyguides like the one corresponding to the book and flash cards really aid me in my learning process.

On Tuesday March 21, Judge Neil Gorsuch's Supreme Court confirmation hearing took place. When asked about Citizens United, Gorsuch replied comically and also stated "approach the law as you find it." In addition, he was asked on his viewpoint on Gideon v. Wainright. He responded by saying that "disliking or liking the precedent is not his job" and "precedents deserve respect and has to be analyzed under the law of precedent." When asked about Roe v. Wade he explained that it is his responsibility to respect the precedent even if he does not agree with that precedent. His strongest disapproval of the president came when asked about Trump's attacks on the Judiciary. He called criticism of the judiciary "disheartening" and "demoralizing."

I have chosen to write my research paper on the late Justice Antonin Scalia. I wanted to know more about his legal philosophy of “originalism” and the legacy he left. I wanted to read on some of his landmark case rulings. I focused on one to include in my research paper. My thesis statement is as follows:

To render justice case by case is the primary task of our courts. Other courts and branches of government also, the social and economic fabrics of our lives are impacted by court decisions. The justice that is done in individual cases helps and aids to bring order to the society in which we live. Parties who are before the court are impacted by our decisions. In criminal matters, court decisions determines whether the accused is guilty or not and if guilty will they suffer financially, be free or go to prison with the possibility of suffering the death penalty. In civil matters, the parties’ rights and their obligations to one another are determined in their court decisions. Future actions are dictated by court decision and can impact the parties’ possessions, finances and livelihood.

The state of Kentucky is one of the states within the United States who still support the death penalty. On January 1, 1975 the death penalty was reinstated within the state of Kentucky. However, issues on whether putting someone to death is immoral and has become a leading topic in the correctional system and public. Therefore, a bill was proposed by Rep. Tom Burch, which would enforce the task force to review all possible outcomes on whether capital punishment deters crime and is applied fairly, also is capital punishment still accepted within the society we live in today. After reviewing the bill that was proposed, Rep. Jesse Crenshaw, a former prosecutor who once supported capital punishment, stated that “he