NEWSWEEK – Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has signed into a law a bill that would see those convicted of child rape be eligible to receive the death penalty.
The law, which goes into effect on July 1, authorizes the state to pursue capital punishment when an adult is convicted of the aggravated rape of a child.
Those who are convicted could be sentenced to death, imprisoned for life without possibility of parole, or simply imprisoned for life.
Lee, a Republican, signed off on the legislation on Thursday but did not issue a statement.
He told reporters Tuesday that he did not sign the bill hoping it would be “tested” in court. Crimes against children are “some of the most heinous that there are,” he added.
Newsweek has contacted Lee’s office for comment via email.
In 1977 the Supreme Court ruled that sentencing a defendant to death for committing rape violates the Eighth Amendment. It also deemed it unconstitutional to use capital punishment in child sexual battery cases in the 2008 ruling in Kennedy v. Louisiana.
But supporters of Tennessee’s new law are hoping the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, could reverse that ruling.
They have likened their push to the decades-long push to overturn Roe v. Wade. The landmark decision legalized abortion nationwide in 1973, but was struck down by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority in 2022.
State Sen. Jack Johnson, who sponsored the bill, wrote in an op-ed in The Tennessean that the five justices who supported the 2008 opinion are no longer on the nation’s highest court, while three of the four who dissented are.
“Given the makeup of the current court, there is a strong possibility that Kennedy v. Louisiana could be overturned,” Johnson wrote. “I feel very certain that the Supreme Court believes there is a strong, compelling state interest to protect children … ”
