The Supreme Court also looked at a Louisiana law extending the death penalty to the rape of a child. In another 5-to-4 decision, the Court ruled the Constitution doesn’t permit capital punishment for raping a child.

The majority opinion argued the death penalty for that crime “poses risks of over-punishment.”

Senator Obama criticized the decision:

“I think that the rape of a small child, 6 or 8 years old, is a heinous crime and if a state makes a decision that under narrow, limited, well-defined circumstances the death penalty is at least potentially applicable, that that does not violate our Constitution.”

Like many Americans, I agree with that. The problem is that Justices Ginsburg, Breyer and Souter don’t. All of them voted to overturn the death penalty for child rapists.

We’re expected to believe that Obama honestly disagrees on important policy issues with the same judges he’s identified as models. You can bet that, if elected, he’ll re-refine his views and decide Ginsburg, Breyer and Souter are right. His appointments will make the Supreme Court the instrument of change and hope for which we’re all hungering and Barack Obama is uniquely qualified to provide.

An Obama Court can set aside constitutional interpretation and get into the important stuff like representing the vulnerable and the powerless. It’ll be like having a bench full of community organizers.

Who could ask for more?

Excellent clip, merrie

Thanks, willhelm