This paper has supplied all the reasons black folks should fear the new Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito ascending to the highest bench. But life does offer surprises. Last week, in his first ruling as a Supreme, Alito kept a condemned Kansas City man alive. Alito’s vote helped to split the Court on Missouri’s last-minute request to allow the contested execution of Michael Taylor to proceed. An appeals court now will review the case to determine if Taylor is right in claiming that Missouri’s method of administering lethal injection constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. “It’s a form of execution more painful than necessary,” Taylor’s attorney, John Simon, said. Yes, it’s goofy that a state with the right to kill its own citizens has been temporarily denied that right because the method of murder is “more painful than necessary,” but it’s even more surreal to see Alito on “our” side. No, we’re not dancing in the aisles just yet.