The Conference of Chief Justices overwhelmingly passed a resolution urging Congress to not pass the proposed Streamlined Procedures Act, which is aimed at curtailing death penalty appeals. The resolution was passed by the Chief Justices from state courts around the country at their annual meeting in Charlestown, South Carolina. Only the chief justice of Texas’ Supreme Court voted against the resolution, stating that he did not have enough time to review the document.

Critics of the Streamlined Procedures Act say it would sharply restrict federal courts’ ability to consider petitions from state prisoners who claimed that their constitutional rights had been violated or who had evidence of their innocence. In their resolution, the Chief Justices, who represent a broad spectrum of beliefs regarding capital punishment, noted that the Act “may preclude state defendants in both capital and non-capital” cases from seeking relief in the federal courts “and may deprive the federal courts of jurisdiction in the vast majority of these matters, all with unknown consequences for the state courts and the administration of justice.” The justices urged Congress to conduct additional study and analysis of the current federal death penalty laws before passing any new bills.

“I am very much in favor of trying to speed up the criminal justice process, including capital cases, but there is an overriding concern I, and my fellow justices, have with fairness,” said Ronald M. George, California’s chief justice, who supports the death penalty and twice argued death penalty cases before the U.S. Supreme Court when he worked for the California attorney general’s office. “What we are saying to the (Senate Judiciary) Committee members is: ‘Don’t rush this through,’” said Ohio Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer, the longest-serving chief justice in the nation. (Los Angeles Times, August 6, 2005). See Innocence, and Recent Legislative Activities.