Anyone for court?

Is anybody else worried? I guess that I am, in the deepest sense of the word, a lot more conservative and anti large government then I thought I was. Not that I plan on going and buying guns and stockading myself. First off, I don't have any crazy girlfriends, so I would be lonely, and second off, I think my dad would be mad if I made the government blow holes in his newly constructed garage.

Plus, I'd get hungry. Yay for the nobility of laziness!

Anyway, I say that I'm worried, in this case not so much because of the government as a whole. I'm thrilled to welcome, along with the entire society of the nation ( I hope) our newest president, who has the promising aspect of having the impossible expected of him to look forward to for at least the next four years, maybe eight. My worry comes, rather, from some human rights progress that has been made by our court systems.

It seems that this past June, the supreme court made a ruling on a petition that directly affects how states are able to prosecute people. Specifically, in the case of Kennedy vs. Louisiana, our highest interpreting power decided that it is cruel and unusual punishment to inflict the death penalty on any person who has committed an individual crime that did not intend the death of the victim or that did not result in the death of the victim. In other words, unless someone died, the death penalty is now a no no for the entire nation. Which could be seen as either a triumph for human rights world wide (I'm told that most developed countries don't even have the death penalty) or a blow to state rights. I'm not sure how I feel about this particular issue, so I will desist.

However, I am a wee bit concerned about how the court has legalized morality. I'm worried about how they interpret it. According to the sylibus of the Kennedy vs. Louisiana case, the Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause “draw[s] its meaning from the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.” Trop v. Dulles, 356 U. S.
86, 101. The standard for extreme cruelty “itself remains the same, but its applicability must change as the basic mores of society change.”

My dad says that societies must change how they enact laws, and that it's actually healthy. I admit, I find it just a wee bit creepy that our morality, especially as it relates to our judiciary system, where it is so vital that it be clear, is defined by the progress of a maturing society.

Perhaps, though, I'm just overreacting.