HOW YOU WRITE IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE

New Orleans attorney Raymond P. Ward has an excellent article on the powerful way sentences can be structured to make a point.  Ward considers the majority opinion of Justice John Paul Stevens and the dissent of Justice Antonin Scalia in Atkins v. Virginia, 563 U.S. 304 (2002).  Justice Stevens described the murder of Atkins' victim with a 61 word sentence.  Justice Scalia used four sentences and added significant detail to the description of the murder.  Over the objections of Justice Scalia, the majority held that the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution does not allow the execution of a mentally retarded defendant.