Abstract

Grim Fairy Tales

This article comments on Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Antonin Scalia's opinion on the ruling against the death penalty for minors, and the trend of literal, and sometimes absurd, interpretations of the law. The Supreme Court recently banned execution of juvenile offenders. In Roper v. Simmons, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for a 5-to-4 majority, cited recent neurological and sociological studies establishing that the overwhelming majority of those under 18 are not developmentally mature enough to be swayed by the incentives of either retribution or deterrence, the two stated justifications for the death penalty. Justice Scalia angrily denounced the majority for taking "guidance from the views of foreign courts and legislatures." I think Scalia's rhetorical turns are worth picking apart. The Court, Scalia says, "thus proclaims itself sole arbiter of our Nation's moral standards." By this gesture, Scalia seemingly denigrates the very function of the Court: It is, after all, the highest and final--if not the sole--arbiter of cases and controversies.