CSPAN has this poll on the US Supreme Court, taken Sept. 17. Question 11 asks, "Of the following list, which issue or issues do you think the U.S. Supreme Court should deal with more often?" Capital punishment ties for first, with free speech, at 32%. (Multiple responses were permitted.) That does not bode well for Doug Berman's quest to have the Court take fewer.
Interestingly, the desire for the Court to take more capital cases is highest among Democrats and lowest among Independents, with Republicans in the middle. I suspect that people with strong views on the issue either way tended to choose this issue, with opponents wanting the high court to reverse more death sentences and supporters wanting it to reinstate more.
As Doug notes, no new capital cases were taken on the long conference list released yesterday, discussed here, but there are already three on the docket for the term: Spisak, Kindler, and Wood. So this term will not be unusually light on capital cases, even if they take no more. (And I do expect them to take more.)
Interestingly, the desire for the Court to take more capital cases is highest among Democrats and lowest among Independents, with Republicans in the middle. I suspect that people with strong views on the issue either way tended to choose this issue, with opponents wanting the high court to reverse more death sentences and supporters wanting it to reinstate more.
As Doug notes, no new capital cases were taken on the long conference list released yesterday, discussed here, but there are already three on the docket for the term: Spisak, Kindler, and Wood. So this term will not be unusually light on capital cases, even if they take no more. (And I do expect them to take more.)
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