The title of this post is taken in part from Ed Whelan's column in NRO's Bench Memos. His observations are especially pertinent to the claim, repeated ad nauseum, that the death penalty is headed for extinction.
There was a time when this was true. As Ed reminds us, however, it was 43 years ago. On this very day in 1972, in Furman v. Georgia:
...five justices vote to overturn a death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment but can't agree on a rationale. Each of the five justices instead issues his own opinion. Despite the fact that the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments expressly assume the existence of the death penalty, Justices Brennan and Marshall each assert that the death penalty is in every instance an Eighth Amendment violation.
This morning, about two generations and 1411 executions later, the Court issued its opinion in Glossip, saying, among many other things (emphasis added):
Our decisions in this area have been animated in part by the recognition that because it is settled that capital punishment is constitutional, "[i]t necessarily follows that there must be a [constitutional] means of carrying it out."
So much for our abolitionist friends (or anyone) claiming to have a crystal ball.
Not a good day for the non-partisan DPIC.