MurdererNot surprisingly, in response to a Forensic Science Commission that had the temerity to hear evidence about the execution of an innocent man he allowed to proceed after a less-than-cursory.
MurdererHopefully you've all read David Grann's remarkable New Yorker story about Cameron Todd Willingham, an almost certainly innocent man who was executed for arson based on worthless junk science roughly.
I suppose the main attraction of formalism to judges is that it makes them feel like somebody or rather something else ("the law") is pulling the trigger. Thus morally outrageous.
Today's decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana is a fairly typical Eighth Amendment case. The relevant textual language -- "nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted" -- can evidently accommodate multiple outcomes.
