Turns Out Mr. Atkins Might Not Be Retarded Afterall

According to the NY Times, "in 1996, [Mr. Atkins] and another man abducted Eric Nesbitt, 21, an airman from Langley Air Force Base, forced him to withdraw money from an A.T.M. and then shot him eight times, killing him." The U.S. Supreme Court used Mr. Atkins's case to "discover" that the U.S. Constitution forbids states from executing the mentally retarded even if they were competent to understand the nature and consequences of their actions (I'm still looking for this clause in my copy). Mr. Atkins's performance on recent IQ tests classify him as not mentally retarded.

Mr. Minor provides brief comments and points to comments by Prof. Althouse.