Two Responses to Rick Garnett

1.  Rick's comment re the OSHA story (here) strikes me as complacent.  (As did Rick's earlier comment about dismissal of the several U.S. attorneys, when the story first broke and I posted a piece by the NYTs Adam Cohen.  I could almost see Rick shrugging his shoulders as he said, in effect, what's the problem, the White House and Gonzales are entitled to do what they want, the U.S. attorneys are political appointees after all.)  Rick writes:  "I have no idea whether OSHA is employing sensible policies or not."  Well, I would love to hear what Rick thinks when he has had time to achieve some clarity about the matter.  (Just as I would love to hear what Rick now thinks about the dismissal of the U.S. attorneys.)

2.  In response to Rick's question to me about the three capital punishment cases decided by the Supreme Court today:  If there is room for a reasonable difference in judgments about the proper outcome of the cases, which way should the benefit of the doubt be resolved, when a human being's life hangs in the balance?  (I think I know how John Noonan would respond.).  Of course, one may say that there isn't room for a reasonable difference in judgments--that Kennedy and the four non-Catholics justices were not merely wrong but unreasonably wrong.  Ah, such confidence!  But is such confidence appropriate, much less admirable, when a human being's life hangs in the balance?