Details on the W&M win over UVa-very interesting [View All]

[underpants]

Interesting tidbit from the W&M-UVa game. Apparently it all came down to a coach's challenge pertaining to the 8th Amendment.

Representatives of the the University of Virginia School of Law based their argument on elements drawn from Dennis Baker's assertion that the evolving standards of decency accords with the moral purpose of the Eighth Amendment and the Framer’s intent that the right be used to prevent citizens being subjected to all forms of unjust and disproportionate punishments which even a lay person would have to see as an undercut of their own case given the factual history of the Groh tenure as the head of the UVa program.


Representatives of the William and Mary school of law (formerly known as the Marshall-Wythe School of Law) countered by citing elements of Trop v. Dulles 356 .U.S. 86(1958) asserting that given the relative age of the contestants in the game the standards of the 8th Amendment must indeed "draw its meaning from the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society."

Adding that under Rummel v. Estelle , 445 US 263 (1980), the Court upheld a life sentence with the possibility of parole for fraud crimes totaling $230 which would clearly be sufficiently met given the ticket prices collectively paid by UVa sports fans not only for this specific event but in their lifetime of faithful renewal of support for an almost certain disasterous outcome (save for Uva v. Florida State, 1995)

The game officials conferred with the booth which sided with the Warren court (Trop) and found UVa's argument moot but stopped short of invoking provisions found in - Wilkerson v. Utah , 99 US 130 (1878), in which the Court stated that death by firing squad was not cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment much to the relief of Coach Groh.