Linda Greenhouse, the Supreme Court correspondent for
The New York Times,
reports, "The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether the Constitution allows the death penalty for the rape of a child." According to the report, "The justices acted only three days before a scheduled argument in another important death penalty case, on the standard for judging whether chemicals used to administer lethal injections make that method of execution unconstitutionally cruel."
A Carrollton, Texas couple's court challenge to Texas' requirement that schoolchildren observe a minute of silence has failed,
reports the
Dallas Morning News. According to the report, U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn in Dallas ruled that "the law – amended in 2003 to add the word 'pray' to 'reflect' and 'meditate' as options for students' use of the minute – does not promote an 'excessive entanglement between government and religion.'"
