Ten Chairs: Nine are Leather; One’s Electric. The Supreme Court’s Struggle for Equal Justice in Capital Punishment.
Abstract
America continues to struggle with the death penalty issue, with some calling it “cruel and unusual” punishment, and others asserting that it represents a sure-fire path to justice. In the context of the theme “Equal Justice Under Law,” etched in stone on the U.S. Supreme Court Building, this paper considers whether the Supreme Court’s increased emphasis on procedural efficiency in denying writs of certiorari and stays of execution denies equal justice based on the merits of a prisoner’s case. While noting some benefits of procedural efficiency, the paper concludes that tightening the procedural process does come at the expense of substantive justice, thus making the goal of “equal justice” more illusive.Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
a) Authors retain copyright over their work, while allowing the conference to place this unpublished work under a Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows others to freely access, use, and share the work, with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and its initial presentation at this conference.
b) Authors are able to waive the terms of the CC license and enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution and subsequent publication of this work (e.g., publish a revised version in a journal, post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial presentation at this conference.
c) In addition, authors are encouraged to post and share their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) at any point before and after the conference.
d) The Author grants Marriott Library the nonexclusive, perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable right to reproduce, distribute, display, publish, archive, preserve, digitize, transcribe, translate, provide access and transmit their work (in whole or in part) for any non-commercial purpose including but not limited to archiving, academic research, and marketing in such tangible electronic formats as may be in existence now or hereafter developed.
e) Marriott Library may elect, in its sole discretion, not to exercise the rights granted herein.
f) Author shall retain copyright in and to the Work and Marriott Library shall provide proper attribution in its exercise of the rights granted herein.
g) Author is solely responsible and will indemnify and hold Marriott Library and/or the University of Utah harmless for any third party claims related to the Work as submitted for publication.
