The FBI s screw-up illustrates how badly things can go wrong. What happened shows this system is fallible and certainly cannot be trusted . . . . If the system is broken, we have to stop these executions and find out what is wrong. But this case, which looked so cut and dried a week ago, promises to reopen an argument we haven t had for nearly a generation. But it is very important for our country to make sure than in death-penalty cases people are treated fairly.
Today is an example of our system being fair.
Of course, the courts, not the attorney general, will decide whether a month is long enough, and Mr. Ashcroft knows this, and he s no doubt happy it s not a decision that will be his to make. JWR contributor Wesley Pruden is editor in chief of The Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.