Goodbye, tortured rationale

Justice Tom Parker got all worked up earlier this year when his Alabama Supreme Court colleagues obeyed Roper v. Simmons, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared executions of juvenile offenders were unconstitutional. He said the state court should have "declined to follow" the ruling to give the Supremes "a second chance to get it right."

Yet what happened after the state supreme court vacated the death sentence in question? Attorney General Troy King appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Yes, the feds in fact got that "second chance" about which Parker was so concerned, and no open judicial rebellion was needed to make it happen.

Funny how that works, huh?