STATEMENT BY BARBARA COMSTOCK, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGARDING THE SECOND CIRCUIT'S REVIEW OF JUDGE RAKOFF'S DECISION FINDING THE FEDERAL DEATH PENALTY UNCONSTITUTIONAL:

The following press release was published by the US Department of Justice on Dec. 10, 2002. It is reproduced in full below.

View the decision (PDF) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TUESDAY DECEMBER 10, 2002 WWW.USDOJ.GOV OPA (202) 514-2008 TDD (202) 514-1888 "Congress passed the Federal Death Penalty Act to save lives, and the Supreme Court has upheld state and federal statutes providing for capital punishment for over two hundred years. The Justice Department is pleased with the Second Circuit's definitive acknowledgement that the District Court was not authorized to overturn the Supreme Court's well-settled law in this area. As the Second Circuit said, the arguments accepted by Judge Rakoff have 'repeatedly been made to the Supreme Court and rejected by the Supreme Court.'" 02-708

Source: US Department of Justice