Supreme Court gets new briefs on rape case

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- The Bush administration says it wants the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling that the death penalty for child rape is unconstitutional.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the state of Louisiana and the Justice Department have asked the nation's highest court to reconsider its decision because the justices were not made aware that Congress in 2006 made child rape a capital offense under military law.

The court's decision overturned the death penalty for Patrick Kennedy, 43, who was convicted of raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter in Louisiana in 1998.

The state did not note in its briefs to the court that Congress had made the changes to military law and the addition of the provision to the Manual for Courts-Martial by President George W. Bush in an executive order.

"The United States regrets that it did not previously bring those pronouncements to the court's attention," Acting Solicitor General Gregory Garre wrote in a petition. "Because the court did not have a complete description of the relevant legal landscape, the court's decision rests on an erroneous and materially incomplete assessment of the 'national consensus' concerning capital punishment for child rape. That error undermines the foundation for the court's decision."