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SRES 626 110th Congress Senate Crime and Law Enforcement Capital punishment Child sexual abuse Constitutional amendments Families Government Operations and Politics Judicial review Law Louisiana Punishment Rape Sentences (Criminal procedure) State laws Supreme Court decisions Women

A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the Supreme Court of the United States erroneously decided Kennedy v. Louisiana, No. 07-343 (2008), and that the eighth amendment to the Constitution of the United States allows the imposition of the death penalty for the rape of a child.

Introduced: July 25, 2008 See on congress.gov
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Jul 25, 2008
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text of measure as introduced: CR S7481-7482)
Jul 25, 2008
Introduced in Senate
 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) the eighth amendment to the Constitution allows the death penalty for the rape of a child where the crime did not result, and was not intended to result, in death of the victim; (2) the Louisiana statute making child rape punishable by death is constitutional; (3) because Kennedy v. Louisiana was decided under a mistaken view of federal law, the U.S. Supreme Court should grant any petition for rehearing of the case and the portions of the decision regarding the national consensus or evolving standards of decency with respect to the imposition of the death penalty for child rape should not be viewed as binding precedent; and (4) the Supreme Court should reverse its decision on rehearing or in a future case because it was supported by neither commonly held beliefs about cruel and unusual punishment nor by the text, structure, or history of the Constitution.

What's happening now July 25, 2008

Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text of measure as introduced: CR S7481-7482)

 Committees of jurisdiction 1