Serious Flaws

Justice Stevens has taken the opportunity of Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court to raise yet another hot-button topic of American Justice- the spector of a flawed death penalty system. Although, of course, this is no spector. The American Death Penalty system does have serious flaws:

President Bush's choice to replace [O'Connor], John Roberts, has a limited track record. Roberts, 50, showed little sympathy for prisoner appeals as a government lawyer in the Reagan administration, but later did free legal work for a death row inmate.

In a February 1983 memo while serving in the Reagan White House, Roberts suggested that the high court could cut its caseload by "abdicating the role of fourth or fifth guesser in death penalty cases."

Stevens used a weekend speech to the American Bar Association to underscore the matter's prominence at the court, noting evidence of "serious flaws."

His remarks provide the first sign of internal dismay over the retirement of O'Connor, a 75-year-old pragmatist who has been a key voter in affirmative action, abortion rights and the death penalty.

So far, much of the focus of the Roberts nomination has been on matters like abortion and civil rights -- not the death penalty. His Senate confirmation hearings begin September 6.

"It doesn't appear to be shaping up as a major issue," said Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a pro-death penalty group.

There will likely be a death penalty case heard on the Supreme Court during the next session.