Those pesky Texans and their penchant for execution

In recent years the Supreme Court has overruled several death penalty sentences arising from Texas, and they are becoming increasingly annoyed at that state court's apparent defiance of their rulings and guidelines. Quite a smack-down was given in the latest couple decisions:

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote in June that the Fifth Circuit was "paying lip service to principles" of appellate law in issuing death penalty rulings with "no foundation in the decisions of this court."

In an unsigned decision in another case last month, the Supreme Court said the Court of Criminal Appeals "relied on a test we never countenanced and now have unequivocally rejected." The decision was made without hearing argument, a move that ordinarily signals that the error in the decision under review was glaring.

Apparently death cases in TX are heard by an unusual sort of appeals court that handles only criminal cases and is made up largely of prosecutors. They appear to be willing to have some of their cases thrown out in order to get as many folks executed as possible... The Fifth Circuit claims to be overwhelmed with case volume but also directly ignores many directives given to it from above.

Will be interesting to see whether the Supremes' charge of impudence will produce any change, and/or whether the Justices will do something more dire in the case that they are hearing starting today.

(via Follow Me Here)