Overview
- A U.S. district judge in the Eastern District of Missouri last week issued a sentencing opinion saying Kennedy v. Louisiana may no longer be controlling law and arguing the Constitution might permit capital punishment for nonhomicide child rape.
- The judge wrote the opinion without either party asking for it in the case of defendant Anthony Moore, even though Missouri law caps child‑rape sentences at 20 years and prosecutors did not seek the death penalty here.
- State legislatures have changed the landscape in recent years with laws in Florida (2023), Tennessee (2024) and at least four other states authorizing death for some child‑rape offenses, and one new statute is reported to be on a path to the Supreme Court.
- Legal debate now centers on method: critics say Kennedy relied on counting state statutes and an 'evolving standards' test while supporters of revisiting it urge a history‑based originalist review like the Court has used in other recent cases.
- Commentators are sharply split over the judge’s step because it could accelerate appeals and new prosecutions while also raising procedural concerns about advisory opinions and pushing prosecutors and legislators to seek harsher penalties.