The latest Supreme Court decision is bringing the constitution into conflict with states rights once again. Today the court struck down a Louisiana law that authorized the death penalty for anyone convicted of raping a child.

The decision was as close as it could be 5-4 and in the court based its decision on the eighth amendment to the Constitution which says “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” But who is supposed to decide what cruel and unusual punishment is?

The death penalty is not a national law. Each state determines whether or not to have the death penalty on their books. Should the Supreme Court alone determine what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment or should it be left up to the people to decide. As they did in so many cases, the founding fathers were very ambiguous in the way they worded this amendment to the Constitution.

There is a precedence in this case. The Supreme Count ruled in 1977 against the death penalty for a rape in which the victim survived, but that case involved an adult not a child. The case they ruled on this time involved the rape of an 8 year old Louisiana girl by her stepfather. The decision has far reaching implications beyond Louisiana. There are five other states - Georgia, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas that have the same law on the books.

So the question is this. If it is up to the individual states to decide whether or not there is a death penalty in the state, does the state also have the right to decide what crimes it should be applied to or does the Supreme Court have the power to decide because of the eight amendment? The Supreme Court wants the death penalty to be reserved for murder and crimes against the state such as treason and terrorism. But there have been executions in the past for crimes other than those but not since 1964 Missouri executed a man named Ronald Wolfe rape and in Alabama,.a man named James Coburn was electrocuted for robbery.

So if the death penalty is not to be applied in the cases of rape of a child, what should the punishment be. Life in prison? Or should it be the same as with other crimes of assault? This latest decision cannot be the end of it. The issue needs to be clarified once and for all so everyone knows where their authority begins and ends.

Barack Obama has already come out as being opposed to the decision.

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