A group of attorneys general from across the country has dispatched a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi with the hope of working to correct a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008 that struck down state capital punishment laws for child rape.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall signed onto the letter urging the change.
"Alabama has long been a leader in standing up for the rule of law and for the protection of children," Marshall said. "I am proud to stand with President Trump and my fellow attorneys general in fighting for laws that reflect the seriousness of this evil and deliver justice for its victims."
"We must use every tool at our disposal to protect children, deter predators, and impose just punishment. States now have both the authority and the responsibility to enact carefully crafted statutes that will withstand judicial scrutiny and allow for the ultimate punishment in these horrific cases," he stressed.
In the letter, Marshall joined his fellow law enforcement officers in explaining the need to revisit the case, Kennedy v. Louisiana.
"In one of the first acts of his second term, President Trump instructed the Department of Justice to 'take all appropriate action to seek the overruling of Supreme Court precedents that limit the authority of State and Federal governments to impose capital punishment," the group wrote.
"Many such precedents exist. Perhaps the worst is Kennedy v. Louisiana, in which the Supreme Court held that a state capital-sentencing scheme for child rape violated the Eighth Amendment. We believe repairing Kennedy's flawed outcome is within the power of the States."
The officials referenced an additional Supreme Court ruling they believe helps to make the case for the reinstatement of state capital punishment laws for instances of child rape.
"Child rape is one of the most heinous crimes known to mankind. Despite the terror this crime inflicts on innocent victims-and despite the Supreme Court's recognition that the threat of recidivism by sexual offenders is "frightening and high," in McKune v. Lile,-the Court in Kennedy thought that Louisiana's scheme for executing child rapists was forbidden by the "evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society."
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