By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court declined Wednesday to revisit its recent decision outlawing executions for people convicted of raping children.

The unusual request, from Louisiana and the Bush administration, was based on the failure of anyone involved in the case to take into account a federal law from 2006 that authorizes the death penalty for members of the military who are convicted of child rape.

The state argued that the case should be reopened because Hon. Anthony Kennedy relied in part on what he called a "national consensus" against executing convicted rapists. The court split 5-4 in the June 25 ruling.

The justices, by a 7-2 vote, issued an amended opinion Wednesday that adds a footnote concerning military law, but otherwise leaves the essence of the decision untouched.

The provision of military law setting out punishments for rapists "does not draw into question our conclusions that there is a consensus against the death penalty for the crime in the civilian context and that the penalty here is unconstitutional," Kennedy wrote, joined by the four liberal justices who formed the majority in June.

"The Supreme Court was dead wrong in their ruling," Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said. "It is disappointing that they did not take this opportunity to move quickly to rehear this case and examine their legally improper and absurd decision to remove death as a penalty for the horrific crime of raping a child."

Reopening the case would have taken five votes, including that of at least one justice who voted to ban the death penalty for rapists.

Hon. Samuel Alito and Hon. Clarence Thomas voted to hear the case again.

Chief Justice Hon. John Roberts and Hon. Antonin Scalia dissented from the original opinion, but voted against reopening the case.

The number of jurisdictions that allowed for capital punishment for rapists was irrelevant to the court's decision, Scalia said. Instead, the justices in the majority employed their independent judgment to say that the Constitution forbids executions when the defendant does not kill the victim, he said.

"There is no reason to believe that absence of a national consensus would provoke second thoughts," Scalia said, noting his strong disagreement with the initial ruling.

"The fact that they based their ruling on their own perception of a ‘national trend' against the death penalty is outrageous, and harms the credibility of the entire court," Jindal said. "We will continue to work to evaluate ways to amend our statute to maintain death as a penalty for the incredibly brutal crime of raping a child."

Lawyers for Patrick Kennedy, whose death sentence was overturned by the court, said the justices got it right the first time. Kennedy's lawyers said military law has long authorized death as punishment for rapes of adults and children, but that the military hasn't sought to execute a rapist in more than 40 years.

The Bush administration took no position when the case was argued, but backed Louisiana's call for a new hearing. The administration said in court papers that Kennedy's opinion "rests on an erroneous and materially incomplete assessment of the ‘national consensus' concerning child rape."

The provision on rape was part of a broad revision of military sex-crimes statutes that was contained in the massive defense bill for 2006. President Bush made no mention of the provision when he signed the bill into law in January 2006 or issued a related executive order the following year.

Kennedy's opinion drew harsh criticism from politicians in Louisiana and other states where executing those who rape children was authorized or under consideration. Presidential contenders John McCain and Barack Obama also said they disagreed with the outcome of the case.

Only in the days following the decision did anyone raise the provision about rape under military law. It was first discussed on a military law blog.

Louisiana "regrettably did not know of this federal provision," the state's lawyers said. "This was a significant error, for which (Louisiana) accepts full responsibility."

In spite of their mistake, the lawyers said the federal law was relevant to the case and should be considered by the court.

The case is Kennedy v. Louisiana, 07-343.