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No Thanks, Ron

 Florida just executed a Vietnam veteran, for the killing of another serviceman long ago. I’m opposed to capital punishment anyway, as you may know. But this latest man is the 46th person executed in Florida while Governor Ron DeSantis has been in office there. 46! Even if I were a little more “in extreme cases, it’s necessary,” 46 is a lot. DeSantis has been Governor 7 years. He’s 48. It’s not like he’s been Governor for his entire adult life. Someone is making an effort not to show restraint, to say nothing of mercy.

I don’t like the efforts to take clemency and commutation powers away from governors. I definitely know that I would resign, if my hands were tied like that. You don’t have to send hardened killers home with their mamas; life imprisonment isn’t a fun time.

If you asked me why I don’t fit in as a Republican and conservative, this is the biggest reason why.

On that note, I would probably prefer “originalist” and “textualist” judges to “vibes” and “living Constitution” and similar things, but I don’t see how overriding a state clemency decision and ordering an execution is an example of judicial restraint. Isn’t their enthusiasm for capital punishment easily the worst thing about the “conservative” Supreme Court?

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