When Congress re-authorized the Patriot Act in 2005, death penalty supporters slipped in a provision intended to speed up appeals in federal death penalty cases. These procedures would limit review of death penalty cases in federal court, and give the U.S. Attorney General the sole power to decide whether individual states are providing adequate counsel for defendants in death penalty cases.
There's no one more unsuitable to make these life and death decisions than our current Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales. While serving then-Governor Bush in Texas, Gonzales presented clemency briefings to Bush before each death penalty sentence was carried out. The record shows a distinct pattern of Gonzales presenting briefs that were biased towards execution, and deliberately excluding information that could have helped defendants argue for clemency.
Apart from the obvious pro-death-penalty leanings of the current Attorney General, it is a fundamental mistake to remove judgments about the adequacy of court-appointed counsel from the judicial branch -- where it currently resides -- and turn it over to the nation's chief prosecutor. No Attorney General should ever have sole and discretionary authority over fast-tracking death-row inmates towards execution.
Now, no one is going to mistake me for someone who is against capital punishment. That said, review of capital cases should indeed be with the judiciary. Congress was asleep at the wheel and Gonzales is a sycophantic idiot. Let your voice be heard. You can do so here.
16 August 2007
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