The Onion parodies Supreme Court decisionmaking in a "landmark" neuroethics case "which challenged the extent to which the Eighth Amendment permits the execution of a mentally ill death row inmate who has a factual awareness of the reason for his punishment but does not comprehend its retributive nature."
You'll find that the parody beats a deadhorse (to death!), though there is, of course, a kernel of truth to the gag. For example:
A source close to one of the associate justices said the deliberations were marked not only by vacillation and ambivalence, but also by a sense of frustration.
"Now Brown v. Board of Education—that was a no-brainer," said Justice Stephen Breyer, referring to the landmark school-desegregation case. "I wish I could have been on the Supreme Court then. But now I have to decide whether or not a convicted killer who 'has a delusional belief as to why the state is executing him, and thus does not appreciate that his execution is intended to seek retribution for his capital crime' can be executed? Forget it."
"We're just nine justices—we don't have all the answers to all the country's legal problems," Breyer added.
(I found the Onion link here.)
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