Tag: limit
High Court Limits Death Penalty In Cases Of Intellectual Disability

High Court Limits Death Penalty In Cases Of Intellectual Disability

By David G. Savage, Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court put a new and slightly expanded limit on the death penalty Tuesday, ruling that defendants whose IQ scores are near 70 should be spared because of their “intellectual disability.”

In a 5-4 decision, the court rejected the “rigid rule” set by Florida and several other states that deny leniency to a convicted murderer who scores at least 70 on an IQ test.

“Intellectual disability is a condition, not a number,” said Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. “Courts must recognize, as does the medical community, that the IQ test is imprecise. … In using these scores to assess a defendant’s eligibility for the death penalty, a state must afford these test scores that same studied skepticism that those who design and use the tests do, and understand that an IQ test score represents a range rather than a fixed number.”

The high court abolished the death penalty in 2002 for those who are “mentally retarded,” but at the time, it did not set a precise rule for defining who qualified. Its opinion cited an IQ score of 70 as an understood cut-off point so that those who scored below would be spared.

Since then, several states, including Florida, Virginia, Alabama and Kentucky, have decided to disqualify any inmate who had at least one IQ score of 70 or above. Beyond those, Arizona, Delaware, Kansas, North Carolina and Washington have also referred to a 70 score as a “bright-line cutoff,” Kennedy said.

In Tuesday’s opinion, Kennedy and the court said state officials should not “view a single factor as dispositive” and should consider the inmate’s “adaptive functioning” in society.

The ruling set aside the death penalty handed down against Freddie Lee Hall for two murders in Florida in 1978. He had been described as “psychotic, mentally retarded and brain damaged” at the time of his conviction, but he scored 71 on a single IQ test.

Kennedy’s opinion was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

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U.S.  Appeals Court Upholds Obama Administration Limits On Air Toxins

U.S. Appeals Court Upholds Obama Administration Limits On Air Toxins

By Neela Banerjee, Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s first-ever limits on air toxins, including emissions of mercury, arsenic and acid gases, preserving a far-reaching rule the White House had touted as central to President Barack Obama’s environmental agenda.

In a 2-1 decision, the court ruled that the mercury rule “was substantively and procedurally valid,” turning aside challenges brought both by Republican-led states that had argued the rule was onerous and environmental groups that had contended it did not go far enough.

The EPA welcomed the decision, calling it “a victory for public health and the environment.” Liz Purchia, an agency spokeswoman, said. “These practical and cost-effective standards will save thousands of lives each year, prevent heart and asthma attacks, while slashing emissions of the neurotoxin mercury, which can impair children’s ability to learn.”

Environmentalists also hailed the ruling, which John Walke of the Natural Resources Defense Council called a “sweeping victory” for the EPA. Walke said that the mercury and air toxins rule was arguably the single most “important regulation driving the cleanup of old dirty coal plants.”

The combustion of coal for power generation releases toxins such as mercury into the air. Through precipitation, mercury returns to the earth and changes into a “highly toxic” substance called methylmercury. Methylmercury enters the food chain and contaminates fish that people consume. The chemical is particularly dangerous for pregnant women, who can easily pass the toxin to their fetuses.

The EPA estimates that the mercury and air toxins rule will prevent 11,000 premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks and 130,000 asthma attacks annually.

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