As one of my Partners (who happened to be in my office while I was ‘holy cowing’ over your post reminded me, it was not just the judges who missed this statutory provision, but likely the lawyers on both sides, their students and or junior counsel. The facts – number of jurisdictions where child rape is punishable with the death penalty – were likely put before the court in submissions.

The question was probably posed to the junior researcher (or librarian) as “How many states have the death penalty for child rape?” rather than “How many jurisdictions…?” Regardless, the answer to the question should have included the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 information.

This is, unfortunately, an excellent example for all of our junior researchers, as well as ourselves, to take the greatest care when researching the law.