Horrifying gang rape & assault on mother & son

[Undertoad]

It's not the meaning of the word "and" that requires interpretation, it's the meaning of the words "cruel" and "unusual".

Dwellars please follow: according to Radar's "no interpretation necessary" understanding of the US Constitution, having a wild animal chew off a prisoner's genitals is not "cruel and unusual".

There's no stronger case for the need for court interpretation, instead of Radar non-interpretation. Luckily the framers left the job of interpretation up to the courts instead of just assuming we'd all understand what it says.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Unusual is pretty easy, cruel is quite open to interpretation, however.

Wait a minute... If it says cruel and unusual, does that mean it can be cruel if it's not unusual? Or unusual if it's not cruel?

[Radar]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Unusual is pretty easy, cruel is quite open to interpretation, however.

Wait a minute... If it says cruel and unusual, does that mean it can be cruel if it's not unusual? Or unusual if it's not cruel?

That's exactly what it means. It means a judge can sentence you to stand with a sandwich board around you on a corner that says you are a pedophile. This is unusual, but not cruel.

[Radar]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

It's not the meaning of the word "and" that requires interpretation, it's the meaning of the words "cruel" and "unusual".

Dwellars please follow: according to Radar's "no interpretation necessary" understanding of the US Constitution, having a wild animal chew off a prisoner's genitals is not "cruel and unusual".

There's no stronger case for the need for court interpretation, instead of Radar non-interpretation. Luckily the framers left the job of interpretation up to the courts instead of just assuming we'd all understand what it says.

The framers gave the courts no such "interpretation" powers in the Constitution. Also, having a wild animal chew off a prisoner's genitals is very cruel, but if applied widely to a lot of people it's not unusual. Therefore it's not cruel AND unusual.

There are many who would agree that this is an appropriate form of punishment for child molesters.