CAPITAL CASE No. 18-6135 In the Supreme Court of the United States ________________ JAMES K. KAHLER, Petitioner, v. STATE OF KANSAS, Respondent. ________________ On Writ of Certiorari to the Supreme Court of Kansas ________________ Brief of Philosophy Professors as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner ________________ EUGENE R. FIDELL (Counsel of Record) Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP 1129 20th St., N.W., 4th Fl. Washington, DC 20036 (202) 256-8675
[email protected] Counsel for Amici Curiae QUESTION PRESENTED Do the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments per- mit a State to abolish the insanity defense? i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Interest of the Amici ................................................. 1 Summary of Argument ............................................. 1 Argument .................................................................. 2 I. THE MENTAL STATE ELEMENTS OF CRIMES ARE INSUFFICIENT FOR RESPONSIBILITY .............................. 2 II. SANITY IS NECESSARY FOR RESPONS- IBILITY AND SO ESSENTIAL TO BOTH THE DETERRENT AND RETRIBUTIVE AIMS OF CRIMINAL PUNISHMENT ........ 6 III.PRINCIPLES OF TOLERATION DO NOT SUPPORT DEFERENCE TO STATES THAT CHOOSE TO PUNISH THE MENTALLY ILL ......................................... 12 Conclusion ............................................................... 14 Appendix (List of Amici Curiae) ............................. 1a iii TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Cases: Durham v. United States, 214 F.2d 862 (D.C. Cir. 1954) .................................................... 14 Ford v. Wainwright,