

Protect our children
The Issue
We are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008), which established a categorical Eighth Amendment prohibition on the death penalty for certain aggravated child-rape offenses when the victim survives. Since that decision, state legislatures have continued to address the constitutional question, including Florida's enactment of legislation authorizing capital punishment for narrowly defined aggravated child-sexual-battery offenses. This petition calls for a renewed examination of the Constitution's text, historical understanding, proportionality principles, evolving standards of decency, subsequent legislation, and the safeguards available through individualized capital sentencing. The goal is not to bypass Supreme Court precedent, but to respectfully ask the Court to reconsider whether Kennedy's categorical rule remains constitutionally justified.

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The Issue
We are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008), which established a categorical Eighth Amendment prohibition on the death penalty for certain aggravated child-rape offenses when the victim survives. Since that decision, state legislatures have continued to address the constitutional question, including Florida's enactment of legislation authorizing capital punishment for narrowly defined aggravated child-sexual-battery offenses. This petition calls for a renewed examination of the Constitution's text, historical understanding, proportionality principles, evolving standards of decency, subsequent legislation, and the safeguards available through individualized capital sentencing. The goal is not to bypass Supreme Court precedent, but to respectfully ask the Court to reconsider whether Kennedy's categorical rule remains constitutionally justified.

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Petition created on September 30, 2026