A Tribute Thread to SC Justice Scalia

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(02-15-2016, 02:13 AM)Bengalzona Wrote: But, as the Snopes article points out, he did actually say: "Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached."

http://news.lawreader.com/2008/08/30/barry-miller-widely-published-scalia-quote-re-innocense-is-inaccurate-we-have-to-agree/

Quote:LawReader user Barry Miller has brought to our attention a widely published misquote of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Scalia.  We have no idea how this quote arose, but upon review we conclude it is nothing more than an edited version and not the actual words of Scalia.

The following quote is widely published and is attributed to Justice Scalia:
 
“Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached.”
 

The quote is attributed to the U.S. Supreme Court case of:  Herrera v. Collins 506 US 390 1993 .
 

Miller called this issue to our attention, and we have investigated the facts, and we conclude that he is correct.  Miller noted that he does not necessarily agree with Scalia, but he does feel he should be accurately quoted and quoted in context.   We agree.
 

The misquote is generally correct but these are not the exact words of Justice Scalia, and as Miller points out they are out of context when read without an understanding of the reasoning behind this issue.

This is what he said

 "There is no basis in text, tradition, or even in contemporary practice (if that were enough), for finding in the Constitution a right to demand judicial consideration of newly discovered evidence of innocence brought forward after conviction."

Kick away...