Samuel Alito
Samuel Alito mocks foreign leaders but cites a foreign jurist who believed in witchcraft
Samuel Alito mocks foreign leaders but cites a foreign jurist who believed in witchcraft and thought dreams were evidence
In case you needed any further proof that the modern anti-abortion movement is an outgrowth of many centuries of virulent misogyny and violence against women, Justice Samuel Alito’s leaked opinion draft striking down Roe v. Wade relies heavily on a 17th century English jurist who had two women executed for “witchcraft,” wrote in defense of marital rape, and believed capital punishment should extend to kids as young as 14.
“Two treatises by Sir Matthew Hale,” Alito wrote in his argument to end legal abortion across America, “described abortion of a quick child who died in the womb as a ‘great crime’ and a ‘great misprision.’ See M. Hale, Pleas of the Crown.”
-https://jezebel.com/supreme-court-roe-v-wade-draft-cites-sir-matthew-hale-1848872890
And how did this Sir Matthew Hale decide cases? What evidence did he use to enforce and interpret the law?
*chuckles*
Well...
Spectral evidence is a form of evidence based on dreams and visions. It was witness testimony that a person’s spirit or specter appeared to the witness in a dream or vision and afflicted them.
In English tradition, spectral evidence was not accepted as evidence in a witchcraft trial, according to an article on the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries blog:
“In the English tradition, although the rules of evidence were vague, legal experts insisted on clear and ‘convincing’ proof of a crime…So-called ‘spectral evidence,’ in which a victim testifies to experiencing an attack by a witch in spirit form, invisible to everyone else, was not accepted as evidence.”
Yet, in 1662, Sir Matthew Hale solidified the legal credibility of spectral evidence in witchcraft cases by allowing it in the Bury St. Edmund case in England, thus setting a precedent to be used at Salem in 1692.
-https://historyofmassachusetts.org/spectral-evidence/
"Falling into a fit" while testifying against a person counted as evidence for the accused's witchcraft in Hale's court.
If this is how the conservative-leaning Supreme Court wants to interpret cases, the SCOTUS might as well decide to get blindfolded and throw darts at boxes containing random legal decisions or decide cases based on the plaintiff and the defendant arm-wrestling each other and who wins.
Those two things would be improvements!
https://deepblueleague.freeforums.net/board/157/foreign-leaders-believed-witchcraft-evidence
