Governor Wolf scored a legal win yesterday.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Wolf’s moratorium on the death penalty does not violate his constitutional authority.
Justice Baer wrote the majority opinion, which was joined by Chief Justice Saylor as well as Justices Eakin and Todd. Justice Stevens wrote a concurring opinion.
“I am pleased the court upheld the constitutional authority of the governor to issue temporary reprieves in death penalty cases,” Gov. Wolf responded. “My decision to issue temporary reprieves came after significant consideration and reflection, and was in no way an expression of sympathy for the guilty on death row. My only sympathy lies with the family members of the victims of these horrible crimes.”
The Governor intends to continue postponing executions until he receives a report from a legislative commission tasked with studying the death penalty.
As Marc Levy of the Morning Call reports, Pennsylvania hasn’t executed an inmate since 1999.
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3 Responses
Scranton Sucks-
Actually, I’m not a fan of Rendell, and I was completely unaware of the fracking/drilling issue until Rendell was already out of office.
At the time Rendell was starting this, the dangers of fracking were not well known (at least publicly, because the drillers certainly knew about the toxic chemicals, spills and illegal dumping).
But, Rendell is certainly a shill for oil/gas these days and my understanding is that he has strong financial ties.
Wolf is probably far too influenced by Rendell and his cronies to realize the dangers of fracking.
Diano, Rendell LOVED drilling on state lands. Did you give him a pass for that?
Excellent.
Now we could also use a moratorium on pumping toxic waste into the ground and environment.