Name: Brett Kavanaugh Rules Children Deserve Life in Prison With No Chance of Parole
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Brett Kavanaugh Rules Children Deserve Life in Prison With No Chance of Parole

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In September 2018, in between screaming about his and crying over his , the Senate Judiciary Committee: “If we want to sit here and talk about whether a Supreme Court nomination should be based on a high school yearbook page, I think that’s taken us to a new level of absurdity.” In fact, lawmakers that day weren’t deciding whether or not to confirm Kavanaugh to the highest court in the land based on “a high school yearbook page” but over , which he denied. Nevertheless, Kavanaugh’s position that day was that people shouldn’t be held accountable for things they do as minors. But what he apparently actually meant was that he shouldn’t be held accountable for things he allegedly did as kid, while others deserve life in prison without the possibility of parole.On Thursday, in a 6–3 decision authored by Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court that judges need not determine that a juvenile convicted of a crime is incapable of being rehabilitated before sentencing him or her to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The “argument that the sentencer must make a finding of permanent incorrigibility is inconsistent with the Court’s precedents,” Kavanaugh claimed, which actually . (As Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern , the landmark Miller v. Alabama and Montgomery v. Louisiana decisions determined, respectively, that juvenile life without parole violate the 8th Amendment and that sentences imposed at a judge’s discretion are generally unconstitutional.) The ruling resulted in the court upholding a life-without-parole sentence that a Mississippi court imposed on Brett Jones, a then 15-year-old who stabbed his grandfather to death.In a scathing dissent, joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan, Justice Sonia Sotomayor responded that “the Court,” i.e. Kavanaugh and his fellow conservatives, “simply rewrites&nbsp;Miller&nbsp;and&nbsp;Montgomery&nbsp;to say what the Court now wishes they had said, and then denies that it has done any such thing. The Court knows what it is doing.” Sotomayor also reminds those reading that Jones was “the victim of violence and neglect that he was too young to escape,” with an alcoholic biological father who abused his mother and a stepfather who abused him with “belts, switches, and a paddle” and openly declared his hatred for Jones. When, per Sotomayor, Jones moved in with his grandfather—who abused him as well—he abruptly lost access to medications he was prescribed for mental health issues, including hallucinations. In 2004, when his grandfather tried to hit him, Jones says he stabbed him .According to , Thursday was the first time in nearly two decades that the Supreme Court “deviated from rules establishing more leniency for juvenile offenders, even those convicted of murder,” noting that the court, “primed by research that shows the brains of juveniles are not fully developed, and that they are likely to lack impulse control—has issued a half dozen opinions holding that juveniles are less culpable than adults for their acts.”As Stern writes, the Court’s “decision will prevent hundreds of other juvenile defendants from securing early release. And as Sotomayor pointed out, the burden will fall disproportionately on racial minorities,” as 70% of all youths sentenced to life without parole are children of color. Too bad these kids aren’t afforded the same policy high school Brett Kavanaugh got!This content can also be viewed on the site it from.This content can also be viewed on the site it from.Most PopularThis content can also be viewed on the site it from.This content can also be viewed on the site it from.More Great Stories From Vanity Fair&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— of an OnlyFans Model and Her Über-Wealthy Boyfriend— Wyoming Tells Donald Trump Jr. to — A Is Upending the Hamptons Social Order— How a Group of Rich Memphians During Capitol Attack— Prosecutors Are in Trump Investigations— Republicans Brave Plan to Stop Mass Shootings: — of Female Journalists Puts News Outlets to the Test— Six Photographers Share Images From — From the Archive: , the Ballad of Richard Jewell— Serena Williams, Michael B. Jordan, Gal Gadot, and more are coming to your favorite screen April 13–15. Get your tickets to here. is a politics correspondent at Vanity Fair. An essential voice of our current tragicomedy, she is an incisive, hilarious daily narrator of the horrors that never seem to stop. If you need catharsis in these terrifying times—or even if you don’t!—she is a must-read. You can follow her... The freshest-and most essential-updates from Washington, Wall Street, and Silicon Valley.

In September 2018, in between screaming about his and crying over his , the Senate Judiciary Committee: “If we want to sit here and talk about whether a Supreme Court nomination should be based on a high school yearbook page, I think that’s taken us to a new level of absurdity.” In fact, lawmakers that day weren’t deciding whether or not to confirm Kavanaugh to the highest court in the land based on “a high school yearbook page” but over , which he denied. Nevertheless, Kavanaugh’s position that day was that people shouldn’t be held accountable for things they do as minors. But what he...

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Vanity Fair is a monthly magazine of popular culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast in the United States.  The first version of Vanity Fair was published from 1913 to 1936. The imprint was revived in 1983 and currently includes five international editions of the magazine. As of 2018, the Editor-in-Chief is Radhika Jones.

Brett Kavanaugh Rules Children Deserve Life in Prison With No Chance of Parole

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