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Scalia Predicts the End of the Death Penalty

CBN

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Justin Antonin Scalia is predicting that the Supreme Court will strike down the death penalty nationwide.

Scalia said it "wouldn't surprise" him if the court made that move after restricting the death penalty in recent years.

He said those decisions have already made it "practically impossible to impose it."

Scalia cited one example, a ruling that says courts can't automatically sentence people to death for killing a police officer.

He made those comments about capital punishment while addressing the University of Minnesota Law School.

This month the Supreme Court has already heard one death penalty challenge out of Kansas.

The court also intends to consider a case from Florida that questions whether judges, rather than juries, can impose a death sentence, especially when the jury is not unanimous in recommending death.

At the event, Scalia also described his judicial view that the Constitution is an "enduring" document that shouldn't be open to broad interpretation.

He expressed frustration over his colleagues who too readily find flexibility in it.

The 79-year-old justice also made clear retirement isn't in his near-term plans. This is his 30th year on the Supreme Court.

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