Minor Crime

The Supreme Court has barred the execution of minors (USAT). (The court had banned the execution of those 15 and under; this decision adds ages 16 and 17 to the ban.) The decision was 5-4 with Scalia, Rehnquist, Thomas and surprisingly, Sandra Day O'Connor voting to uphold states' right to decide in the matter. The whole transcript of the decision is not up yet, but parts of Scalia's dissent are:

The court says in so many words that what our people's laws say about the issue does not, in the last analysis, matter: 'In the end our own judgment will be brought to bear on the question of the acceptability of the death penalty.'

The court thus proclaims itself sole arbiter of our nation's moral standards.

Scalia has been making the same Eighth and Ninth Amendment argument for 20 years. But you know what, I don't care. I'd rather the court be arbiter of the nation's moral standards than the state of Florida.