JURIST - Paper Chase: US Supreme Court takes case on juvenile killers

AP: "The Supreme Court, which two years ago abolished executions for the mentally retarded, said Monday it will now consider ending the execution of killers who were under 18 when they committed their crimes."

Read the Missouri Supreme Court opinion appealed from here (setting aside the death sentence of a juvenile murderer and suggesting that "the United States Supreme Court would hold that the execution of persons for crimes committed when they were under 18 years of age violates the evolving standards of decency and is prohibited by the Eighth Amendment to the United States constitution.").

In addition, the US Supreme Court this morning notably delined to hear appeals by Reynolds Tobacco (disputing a $195,000 judgment awarded to the widow of a teacher who died of lung cancer) and Max Factor cosmetics heir Andrew Luster (claiming he had been unfairly deprived of his right to appeal three rape convictions in the California courts). Today's full Order List from the US Supreme Court is here.