The Troy Davis Fallout Continues

The U.S. Supreme Court dropped a bombshell on Monday, and it was great news for Troy Davis. The court ruled 6-2 that a lower court must review new evidence in Davis' case before he can be executed. Davis' case had attracted attention from around the world, and millions celebrated the ruling. But it was the dissent that really turned some heads this week - and the conversation isn't over.

Antonin Scalia wrote in his dissent (joined by Clarence Thomas) that the court had never found that executing an innocent person was unconstitutional. That's true - but why assert this position when you have the chance to articulate the obvious - that executing someone for a crime they didn't do is about as cruel and unusual as it gets?

Attorney and Professor Alan Dershowitz wrote at the Daily Beast that he was shocked that two Catholic justices could sign this dissent. He points to Scalia's famous 2002 article on the death penalty where he said that if his role as a justice ever forced him to do something immoral he would resign. That article asserted his belief that the death penalty isn't always immoral. But surely, Dershowitz says, executing an innocent man is. Tony, maybe it's time to go. I'm sure the President will come up with a replacement you'd appreciate.

Conor Clarke wrote on Tuesday at Daily Dish that Scalia was simply trying to uphold important procedural structures in our criminal courts. Then, on Wednesday, he graciously admitted that commenters had changed his mind on Davis' case, because he actually hasn't been given the due process he deserves (no court has heard live testimony from all of the witnesses who have recanted, some of whom say another man committed the crime).

Writing at Emptywheel, bmaz underlines an important point of this case - it's just another example of the Clinton-era Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act shortcircuiting justice and "turning federal juries and judges into 'death panels.'" Lots of twitterers thought Scalia would be a good fit to sit on a death panel.

My Innocence Project colleague Ezekiel Edwards spoke with DemocracyNow! about the eyewitness identification issues in the case, and he was joined by Davis' sister and nephew and Amnesty International's Laura Moye.

[As always, views expressed here are my own and don't represent the Innocence Project]