Reference no: EM133213896

Question: Imagine five cave explorers from the Spelunking Society in the year 4300 are trapped in an underground cave after a landslide blocks the entrance. Considerable time and expense are put into a cave rescue effort, which spans more than two weeks and results in the death of ten rescuers. After twenty days in the cave and with diminishing supplies, the group members decide they must kill one of their own to survive. Benjamin Luttrell, one of the group, proposes that they cast dice to determine who should be killed and eaten. After much deliberation and hesitation, the group agrees.

Shortly thereafter, Benjamin gets scared and withdraws from the agreement he had proposed. Nonetheless, the group goes ahead with the plan. When Benjamin refuses to participate, the group goes ahead without him and rolls the dice for him. He loses the dice role. Benjamin is killed and eaten on the twenty third day. The remaining survivors are saved on the thirty second day. Afterward, the remaining group members are put on trial for murder. The statute under which they are tried states, "Whoever shall willfully take the life of another is punished by death."

Suppose the jury finds all survivors guilty and the trial judge promptly sentences the defendants to death by hanging. After the jury is released from duty, the defendants petition the Supreme Court to reconsider the verdict. Five justices on the Supreme Court review the petition to appeal the murder convictions and death sentences. The legal philosophies of each justice are well known:

Chief Justice Truxal is a sociological theorist.

Justice Nelson is a natural theorist.

Justice Ellis is an economic pragmatist.

Justice Pinerola is a legal positivist who prefers the "plain meaning" of the statute.

Justice Cooper is a proponent of critical legal theory.

Explain the different legal theories, and how each justice will rule on the constitutionality of the convictions. Explain to the readers what will happen after the vote occurs.