High Court May Hear Death Cases

WASHINGTON--The Supreme Court was asked Monday to rehear the cases of 16 prisoners who were removed from death row by its historic decision banning executions.

Texas attorney general Crawford C. Martin, filing one of the 16 briefs requesting the rehearings, said the Court's anti-execution ruling "constitutes a severe blow to the American jury system." He went on to say that the ruling forces the legislators to decide whether or not to punish by execution.

Attorney General Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania, in his brief, requested the opportunity to argue on the issue of the death penalty's constitutionality as applied in his state.