Troy Davis' fate rests with Clarence Thomas?

[NightWatcher]

Per Amy at Democracy Now. He's the one reviewing this case.

This shit is sadistic.

[TheBigotBasher]

1. Exactly what I thought

No wonder the police cars are out.

[enough]

2. Sadistic is the word. Shit also. (nt)

[RebelOne]

3. Yeah, so Troy Davis is still in the execution chamber awaiting his fate. n/t

[Tx4obama]

4. NO, that is incorrect.

Thomas received the paper work, then he sent it to the other eight justices.
Now they are ALL discussing the issue.

All of the justices will have an equal vote.


Edited to add:

RT @thinkprogress: MT @CBSAndrew: What's happened. Justice Thomas got #TroyDavis appeal and sent it to his 8 colleagues. They are now discussing.

http://twitter.com/#!/thinkprogress/status/116662435439575040

[EFerrari]

10. But he took the lead in consensus building. So no, not incorrect. n/t

[Tx4obama]

16. All Thomas did was receive the papers and sent them to the other justices.

Justice Thomas gets only one vote just like the other eight justices.
Thomas is not going to be influential on how the others decide to vote.
If you haven't noticed ALL the justices have their own minds and can think on their own.

[EFerrari]

18. No, that's wrong. Thomas can decide to give this case juice or not.

It's not a matter of the other justices being mindless but a matter of how these cases move through the process.

[Tx4obama]

21. What process are you talking about?

Thomas received the paperwork.
Thomas sent it to the other eight justices.
The justices read the document.
Now they are discussing it.
Presently we are waiting for ALL nine justices will vote, and their decision to be released.

It is very simple.


p.s. What 'kind of power' do you think Thomas has over the other justices?

[EFerrari]

25. Are you talking about magic? Is that how you think groups of professionals

approach problems?

Sorry, Tx, I'm bored now. Have a good night

[Tx4obama]

26. We are talking about Supreme Court Justices. Not a company think tank.

I do know how the Supreme Court works and how they review cases, and their voting procedure.

[EFerrari]

28. Tha's right. And Clarence Thomas is not a file clerk who delivers documents.

"The last time there was a stay, it was Clarence Thomas who created the consensus." -- Ben Jealous.

[BzaDem]

23. That is incorrect. If Thomas refers the case to the full court (as he and all justices always do),

he becomes irrelevant (other than the one vote he has, just like the others).

[RaleighNCDUer]

29. All except Thomas, of course. nt

[KansDem]

5. Why was Clarence Thomas chosen?

Is there some kind of procedure involved? :shrug:

[NaturalHigh]

7. I think appeals were sent to all of the justices.

Maybe he's just the one who replied first.

[KansDem]

9. Thanks!

:hi:

[KansDem]

8. Never mind...post no. 4 answered my question...(nt)

[Gregorian]

11. I think it's a statement Rev. Sharpton made regarding Thomas.

I believe he mentioned it with the understanding that he may be the only one of the five who might have a change in heart.

Four justices is all we need. Not five.


edit- OK, I see post 4. I don't know what is happening. Either what I said, or the mere fact that Thomas was willing to even hand the paper to the justices. No lawyer here. I went into engineering for just this reason.

[EFerrari]

12. He has worked on this case before. Considering the time constraints

that probably played a part.

[Ruby the Liberal]

17. That, and they aren't in session

DemocracyNow reporting only a few of them in DC tonight.

[EFerrari]

19. Yep.

[BzaDem]

24. Only because he is the circuit justice that handles Georgia. Each justice automatically gets a

circuit (consisting of several states). It is automatic and pro forma.

[jimlup]

6. I believe that another Justice could step in if they felt compelled to do so. /nt

[EFerrari]

13. He won't decide it himself but is in a leading role. n/t

[BzaDem]

14. This is probably not correct. While Thomas is the circuit justice and could unilaterally deny the

stay, in practice that almost never happens for death penalty cases. The circuit justice almost always refers the stay request to the full court, which then votes on it. It is basically just paperwork. The circuit justice has one vote just like everyone else, and most other justice could care less what the circuit justice thinks. (They might agree, but only because they themselves agree -- not because of the circuit justices' view.)

Sometimes, a justice will unilaterally grant a stay. But that is also rare. One notable instance of this was when justice Douglas unilaterally granted a stay to the Rosenbergs, which would have delayed the execution for at least a few months. But the rest of the court was so outraged that they held a conference almost immediately and vacated the stay.

But I don't know of any instance where a justice unilaterally denied a death penalty stay.

Unfortunately, it is still somewhat unlikely that there will be good news. If the court was going to grant the stay, they probably would have done so. It is just a one sentence order. The delay is probably because someone is writing a dissent to the denial of a stay (and perhaps a conservative is writing a reply to the dissent). Obviously this is just a guess though.

[Tx4obama]

15. All the justices where not in the building. Thomas received/sent paperwork to ALL the justices.

All the justices will 'discuss' and then 'vote'

[demosincebirth]

20. If thats the case, he's done. I hope I'm wrong.

[Tx4obama]

22. That is NOT the case. See comment #4. n/t

[Tx4obama]

27. If his fate rests in anyone's hand it will be with Justice Kennedy

Kennedy will be the swing vote.

Here's a link to a live blog with some info regarding the Justices

http://www.thenation.com/blog/163561/temporary-reprieve-troy-davis