The federal courts should be applying the law, including death-penalty law, not making policy about it. That is why the Supreme Court should hear a challenge to the First Circuit’s policy-driven vacating of the capital sentence imposed on Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Alas, the Biden administration will probably not let that happen. Regardless, there is plenty to debate about death-penalty policy — it’s just that it’s a debate for the political branches at the state and federal level. I tried to sort through these issues in a column at The Hill this week.