Ann Coulter debates the standards of which a Supreme Court Justice should be appointed, and the type of appointee Obama seeks to give a recent position opening

Debate on torture

Ann Coulter specifically cites the death penalty trial of Karla Fay, and unfair treatment by Texans towards black criminals


Death Penalty Story:

On June 11, 1983, Tucker, her friends, and her sisters got high on drugs and alcohol at a party, where she heard that Shawn Dean had broken up with her husband Jerry a week earlier. Two days later, having spent the day doing drugs with Garrett, she entered Jerry Dean's home at 2:00 am with Garrett and James Leibrant to steal Dean's motorcycle. During the robbery, Jerry Dean heard the commotion and confronted the burglars, which prompted Garrett to strike him numerous times with a hammer. Dean's girlfriend, Deborah Thornton, entered the bedroom to find Garrett striking Dean on the head. She hid under the bedcovers, where Tucker discovered her. Tucker then hacked Thornton to death with multiple pickaxe blows, after which Garrett embedded the axe in Deborah's heart. The next morning, a landlord discovered the victims' bodies. Investigation led to the arrests of Tucker and Garrett.
Tucker's last hope of avoiding the death penalty was to apply to the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole for the commutation of the sentence. Under Texas law, the granting of commutation of a death sentence is a two stage process. It requires that both a majority of the board and the governor of the state approve. First the board considers the appeal. If a majority of the board accept the plea, the appeal proceeds to the governor, who is not bound by the board's recommendation.

Tucker requested that her life be spared on the basis that she was under the influence of drugs at the time of the murder and was now a reformed person. Her plea drew support from abroad and also from some leaders of American conservatism. Among those who appealed to the State of Texas on her behalf were Waly Bacre Ndiaye, the United Nations commissioner on summary and arbitrary executions; the World Council of Churches; Pope John Paul II; Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi; the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich; televangelist Pat Robertson; and Ron Carlson, the brother of Tucker's murder victim Debbie Thornton. The warden of Texas' Huntsville prison testified that she was a model prisoner and that, after 14 years on death row, she likely had been reformed.[citation needed] The board turned her down on January 28, 1998.

In the year following her execution, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson questioned Governor George W. Bush about how the Board of Pardons and Parole had arrived at the determination on her clemency plea. Carlson alleged that Bush, alluding to a televised interview which Karla Faye Tucker had given to talk show host Larry King, smirked and spoke mockingly about her.