Five of the nine Supreme Court justices who handed down the Baze decision are also Catholic (Roberts, Ailto, Kennedy, Scalia, and Thomas).  I think that it is a testament to their respect for the Constitution and our rule of law that they are able to uphold their oaths of office despite their religious convictions.

the supreme court made the right decision and tim kaine kept his word.  glad to see he is willing to uphold our justice system here in virginia.

I think the death penalty is an abomination.

However, as Lowell pointed out, Kaine specifically promised to support the death penalty as Governor and was elected, at least in part, on the basis of that promise.  Many people have speculated that he would use Baze and other court challenges to obfusicate and delay the execution process.

Today he proved that he is a man of honor who will keep his campaign promises.  We could use about 534 more people like him in Congress.

who you think the sole man (or woman) of honor currently in the Congress is.

...Assuming Jim Webb becomes VP.

Good catch on the math there.

;-}

I think HisRoc's answer assumed that Kaine himself would be in Congress (somehow) and that we would then need 534 more of him to fill the other 534 seats.

Of course, in Jim Webb and many other Democrats (and even a handful of Republicans) we already have honorable people in Congress.  The challenge is to ensure they are in a solid, unassailable majority.

But good luck trying to convince Speaker Howell, Ayotollah Cuccinelli, Sideshow Bob et al. to abolish the death penalty in Virginia.

I've concluded there is no way to make the process errorless or completely fair, no way to scale the magnitude of the crimes so that only the most heinous receive the death penalty, no way to employ people to impose the penalty without ultimately dehumanizing and perhaps traumatizing them with their involvement in cold-blooded and calculated killing, no way to acknowledge redemption of those who in the years between their acts and their executions have become humanized and aware of the harm they perpetrated, and no way to separate out those who have true mental health or intellectual deficiencies from those who are plainly psychopathic.  In such a system it is impossible to achieve perfection, while the penalty imposed is the ultimate negative perfection - it is the extinguishing of human life forever - an absolute from which there is no turning back.

I admire Kaine for following his promise, but I would like some day to see our country abandon the death penalty.  

has multiple meanings.

Joke aside, agree 100% with what you wrote. It is the exact reason why, by any standard, the death penalty is "cruel and unusual."

At least I don't have to bring my toothbrush with me to court.  One way or the other, I'm usually going home at the end of the day.

I am a constitutional fanatic -- I think the structure they left us is basically unimprovable, they saw it all coming. And I actually don't think the death penalty can be said to be prima facie cruel and unusual  -- the document allows for death sentences for treason (although, yes, the Bill of Rights came in 1787/88 to ensure passage of our compact).

But. Catzmaw makes as beautifully eloquent and concise a statement against capital punishment as I think can be mustered. It can't -- and doesn't -- work justly. And if the powers of government can't be applied justly, then they are illegitimate (that's at the heart of our creed). It's an anachronism, and it's time for it to be retired.

But since he has been governor and before the ban how many executions did he not stop?

Is Percy Walton really mentally ill.

He stayed Christopher Scott Emmett's One time... Then it got stayed again because of the Supreme Court decision. Now that it is back on will he intervene again?

The last one he stayed weeks even before the Supreme Court decision came down, if my math is right it would have came down about the same time as the death sentence would have been imposed.

Teresa Lewis, there is a real winner.. Only woman on death row. Goes to Wal-mart. Finds to guys to have sex with him, plans the murder of her husband then her poor husband lay there long enough to tell police " My wife knows who did this' before taking his last breath.  She has one more appeal. I am sure she will be turned down. Will Governor Kaine Intervene in her execution... Only time will tell.

If the sentences are not carried out then why do we bother to have trials and let people go to court.... What is the whole point of the judicial system.