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Page Number: 1

Cite as:  554 U. S. ____ (2008) 

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Statement of SCALIA, J. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 07–343 
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PATRICK KENNEDY, PETITIONER v. LOUISIANA 

ON PETITION FOR REHEARING 

[October 1, 2008] 

  Statement  of  JUSTICE  SCALIA,  with  whom  THE  CHIEF 
JUSTICE joins, respecting the denial of rehearing. 

  Respondent  has  moved  for  rehearing  of  this  case  be-
cause there has come to light a federal statute enacted in 
2006  permitting  the  death  sentence  under  the  Uniform 
Code  of  Military  Justice  for  rape  of  a  minor.    See  Pub  L. 
109–163,  §552(b)(1),  119  Stat.  3263.    This  provision  was 
not  cited  by  either  party,  nor  by  any  of  the  numerous 
amici in the case; it was first brought to the Court’s atten-
tion after the opinion had issued, in a letter signed by 85 
Members of Congress.  Respondent asserts that rehearing 
is  justified  because  this  statute  calls  into  question  the 
majority  opinion’s  conclusion  that  there  is  a  national 
consensus against capital punishment for rape of a child. 
  I  am  voting  against  the  petition  for  rehearing  because 
the views of the American people on the death penalty for 
child rape were, to tell the truth, irrelevant to the major-
ity’s  decision  in  this  case.    The  majority  opinion,  after  an 
unpersuasive  attempt  to  show  that  a  consensus  against 
the  penalty  existed,  in  the  end  came  down  to  this:  “[T]he 
Constitution  contemplates  that  in  the  end  our  own  judg-
ment will be brought to bear on the question of the accept-
ability  of  the  death  penalty  under  the  Eighth  Amend-
ment.”    Ante,  at  ___  (slip  op.,  at  24).    Of  course  the 
Constitution  contemplates  no  such  thing;  the  proposed