Newly instated Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's ruling in his first case, a death penalty appeal from Missouri, is raising eyebrows. The case concerned Michael Taylor, who claimed that his damaged veins would necessitate that Doctors cut deep into his flesh to administer the lethal chemicals, resulting in unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.
Alito broke ranks with the court's conservatives--Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Scalia, and Justice Thomas---who voted to allow the execution of Michael Taylor.
Following in the footsteps of Sandra Day O'Connor, Justice Alito cast the swing vote by siding with the courts more liberal members.
This blogger, though pleasantly surprised by Alito's position, remains skeptical, and will withold my final judgement on Alito's impartiality until after he has a few more cases under his belt.
Here's hoping that those of us who had pegged this Justice as a "yes man" insurance policy for the Bush administration are proved dead (no pun intended) wrong. Personally, I'd like nothing better than to apologize to Justice Alito and admit I was wrong. I eagerly await his first abortion case ....
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