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Article: Stevens criticizes death penalty; Supreme Court justice notes 'serious flaws' in the system during a speech
- Article from:
- Telegraph - Herald (Dubuque)
- Article date:
- August 8, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2005 Telegraph - Herald (Dubuque). Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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CHICAGO (AP) - Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens steered the
debate over President Bush's nominee to a new subject: capital
punishment, sharply condemning the country's death penalty system.
The court has been closely divided in death row cases, with
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor often in the middle.
President Bush's choice to replace her, John Roberts, has a
limited track record. Roberts, 50, showed little sympathy for
prisoner appeals as a government lawyer in the Reagan administration,
but later did free legal work for a death row inmate.
In a February 1983 memo while serving in the Reagan White House,
Roberts suggested that the high court could cut its caseload by
"abdicating the ...