Troy Davis: One Day to Live?

by juliacsmith

Tomorrow, Troy Davis is scheduled to die—six days before the United States Supreme Court is scheduled to make a decision on whether to hear his last-ditch appeal.

The New York Times says that “rushing to execute Mr. Davis on Tuesday makes no sense at all”:

No one anywhere would benefit from killing Mr. Davis on Tuesday, as opposed to waiting a week to see how the Supreme Court rules. So why the rush? The murder happened in 1989, and Mr. Davis has been on death row for 17 years. Six or seven more days will hardly matter.

Amnesty International has a ton of background and research on this page. You can listen to Troy tell his story; spread the word via text message; and send a letter to the Georgia Board of Pardon and Paroles.

Photo of a rally in Paris courtesy of the Troy Anthony Davis website.

Break’s Over: Barack Meets Bartlet

cross-posted by lawyerlylisa

I truly loved this fictional meeting of Barack Obama and TV’s West Wing prez Jed Barlet, featured in today’s Maureen Dowd’s NYTimes column.

Please note, however, that it was guest-scripted by Aaron Sorkin. I’m normally not a fan of Maureen Dowd’s writing – if you’re wondering why, you can read her book, “Are Men Necessary?” But I wouldn’t recommend doing so, it’s a big waste of time. Most of the time, I think Dowd is a pretty sorry excuse for one of the only women voices represented on the New York Times editorial page. But today is a great exception, thanks to her inviting Aaron Sorkin to write for her, and she deserves credit for the great idea to commission him to write it.