Republicans Should Oppose the Death Penalty
Some things to consider:
- In the 1980s, the Reagan administration lamented the growth of tort recoveries, blaming the “explosive growth in the damages awarded in tort damages” as the cause of an “insurance crisis.”
- Newt Gingrich included tort reform as part of his ten point agenda for the Republican retaking of the House. In 1996, he and other Republicans in Congress passed legislation that would have capped punitive damages in product liability cases in every state court in the country. (It was vetoed by Clinton).
- Karl Rove insisted that Bush add a plank for tort reform to his gubernatorial campaign, and arranged for Bush to “hear a few lawsuit horror stories from Texans for Public Justice.” When Bush was President, he sought “to overhaul the nation’s medical liability system, including legislation that would impose, among other things, a $250,000 cap on jury awards for noneconomic or ‘pain and suffering’ damages.”
- John McCain “stressed the need for federal tort reform.” He wanted to “tame legal predators and address the problems of runaway punitive damages.” Before him, Senator Bob Dole “pushed hard” for tort reform legislation. Giuliani lobbied for tort reform too.
Republicans don’t trust juries or judges to decide how much to give to an injured person. Presumably, they worry that juries and judges both are too easy swayed by emotion, and not appropriately mindful of the facts. If you don’t trust the courtroom to decide how much to award someone who spilled coffee on herself, why would we trust the courtroom to decide whether someone should be put to death? If emotion can unduly sway a jury against a doctor who botched an operation, can’t it also unduly sway a jury against a troubled defendant accused of killing a likable victim? If judges make mistakes in trip and fall cases, don’t they also make mistakes in capital murder cases? It would seem that Republicans don’t trust juries to do anything right except take a life. That’s insane.
Republicans should oppose the death penalty.
