Fine commentary on SCOTUS and the death penalty

I suspect the one major sentencing issue likely to get serious attention during the Roberts hearing is the death penalty.  To get in the mood for that portion of the festivities, may I suggest two new resources with some fine commentary on the Supreme Court's death penalty jurisprudence:

• Benjamin Wittes has a terrific discussion of the evolution of death penalty jurisprudence in the October 2005 issue of The Atlantic Monthly.  The article is available (with subscription) at this link, and the DPIC has a helpful synopsis here.  The gist of the article can be surmised from the title, "The Executioner's Swan Song?", and the subtitle, "The death penalty is not about to vanish overnight — but the Supreme Court's tolerance for it is diminishing rapidly."

• With a hat tip to the DPIC, you can access at this link a recent segment from C-Span's Washington Journal which DPIC Director Richard Dieter and Professor Robert Blecker discussing the Supreme Court and the death penalty.