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Old 06-25-2008, 04:13 PM
KSigkid KSigkid is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: New England
Posts: 9,328
I haven't gotten a chance to read the decisions, but here are my two cents after reading SCOTUS blog and a couple of the news articles...

The decision on the Valdez spill isn't terribly surprising, in that the Court has been cracking down on punitive damages for a few years. From what I'm reading, it's essentially limited to maritime cases, so I'm not sure how much future effect it will have.

The death penalty case was interesting; from what I understand, it essentially eliminates the death penalty for non-homicide cases. Kennedy wrote the opinion, so you figured he would try to make a splash. The entire court (save for Stevens, I believe) thinks that the death penalty is Constitutional in some cases, so those who are anti-death penalty shouldn't start counting on the penalty being abolished any time soon.

I haven't seen much on the jurisdiction case, or the Giles decision (confrontation clause issue).
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