A Capitol Offense: Bush and the Death Penalty

About the only thing that puts a smile on George Bush’s face these days is the performance of his Supreme Court.

Once a co-equal branch of our federal government, the Supreme Court is now Bush’s personal toy. The Justice Department, which has a way of going after Democrats and liberal causes, serves up cases on a platter and the Supreme Court gladly puts their ultra-conservative stamp on them (disregarding such inconvenient standards as constitutionality or precedent).

The love affair between Bush and the Supreme Court began in the aftermath of the 2000 election, when the court ignored all precedent and handed Bush the presidency.

Yesterday, the Bush Supreme Court was at it again.

This time they gave the thumbs up to lethal injections as a form of execution.

Led by Chief Justice John Roberts, and opposed only by Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter, the court ruled that the three-step method of murder: sedate, paralyze and kill was an appropriate procedure even though there was substantial evidence that the sedate part of the formula wasn’t always successful.

George Bush, the man who broke the modern day record for executions during his tenure as governor of Texas, must have thrilled with the work of his henchmen on the court.

As Governor, Bush presided over 152 executions, by far the most in the modern era. For some reason, the only death warrant he refused to sign was that of mass murderer Henry Lee Lucas. Lucas had confessed to over 3,000 murders, but it is believed that he only killed about 350.

The great irony is that the decision came down on the eve of the Pope’s visit. Bush fawned over the Pope as a man of God and peace. The Pope is on  record as being against our presence in Iraq and against the death penalty.

Of course, the Pope is not alone in his opposition to the death penalty. Virtually the entire world has banned it. There is no death penalty in Europe, Canada, Mexico, Australia. If you want to see kind of company we keep, look at the top six nations for executions in 2007: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the United States and Iraq.

I guess that makes us a proud member of the Axes of Evil.