by Matt Barr

Burgeoning national consensus

Adorably believing they're running their state, Truman Show-like, instead of the Invisible Hand of the Supreme Court, legislators in New York voted not to send a bill reinstating the state's death penalty to the full house.

New York's death penalty was reinstated in 1995 by the Legislature and Pataki, who had vowed to bring capital punishment back during the 1994 campaign when he ousted incumbent Democrat Mario Cuomo. Cuomo, in 12 years as governor, had routinely vetoed death penalty legislation.

No one was ever executed under the 1995 death penalty law, and it was effectively declared invalid by a ruling from the state's highest court last year....

The high court's ruling last June invalidated the sentences of all four men on the state's death row. The Court of Appeals ruled that provisions in the law governing jury instructions could result in some jurors voting for death when they really don't want to.

Mr. Justice Kennedy is taking notes. In 2007, when the death penalty is declared in violation of the Eighth Amendment, this will be cited.

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