Louisiana wants to nullify Kennedy decsion on rape

Washington Times:

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said he will seek to enact laws that would invalidate Wednesday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the death penalty for raping a child.

"One thing is clear," said Mr. Jindal, a Republican. "The five members of the court who issued the opinion do not share the same standards of decency as the people of Louisiana."

In a 5-4 decision, the high court ruled as unconstitutional a Louisiana law that permits the death penalty for people convicted of raping children younger than 12. Louisiana had the only two inmates in the country facing death for raping a child.

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Legal analysts said Mr. Jindal's pledge to keep the death penalty by amending state law may be designed to win him political credit but stands little chance of becoming reality.

"I don't know how they're going to do that," said Ira C. Lupu, George Washington University Law School professor of constitutional law. "The state doesn't have the authority to override the Supreme Court decisions that are based on interpretations of the federal Constitution. As long as this ruling today doesn't get overturned, they'll never be able to execute someone for anything other than murder."

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Jindal is a smart guy, but it is certainly not obvious how they could get around this bad decision. It would take a constitutional amendment and I think there are enough opponents of the death penalty to block it.