Friday, March 29, 2024

Sotomayor Casts First Vote as Member of Supreme Court

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The newest member of the Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, made her first public decision as a justice on Monday. She, along with the court’s liberal members, dissented in the decision regarding the execution of an Ohio death row inmate.

Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer joined Sotomayor in voting to stop the execution of Jason Getsy, whose execution occurred yesterday.

Getsy, 33, was given the death penalty for shooting 66-year-old Ann Serafino in 1995 in Hubbard, Ohio. He asked the Supreme Court on Monday to allow him to challenge Ohio’s lethal injection system as cruel and unusual punishment. The court’s other five justices denied this request.

Sotomayor will sit in on her first Supreme Court hearing on a campaign-finance case on Sept. 9. The new term doesn’t formally begin until October 5.

Associated Press