In the Hands of Alberto.

Would you want this man making a life-and-death decision for you? For some reason, embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales — who hasn’t been coming across as a model of competence lately — is apparently about to receive expanded powers to fast-track state death penalty cases. “Kathryn Kase, a Houston lawyer who serves on the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ death penalty committee, said the Justice Department’s proposed regulations are ‘severely lacking’ because they do not provide enough oversight to ensure that defendants are receiving adequate legal counsel. ‘In our judgment they allow states to…claim they have a capital representation case that is functional, when in fact it might not be functional at all,’ Kase said. ‘It may not prevent people from being wrongfully sentenced to death.‘” The older I get, the worse the death penalty seems as public policy. Even the cruel and unusual aspect notwithstanding, it’s arbitrary, it doesn’t work as a deterrent, it’s often racist. Add Gonzales’ presumed oversight to the list of negatives.