WICHITA, Kansas -- A divided decision by the nation’s highest court brings capital punishment back to Kansas and puts eight men back on death row. On Monday, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the state’s death penalty law is constitutional.

By a five to four vote, the justices overturned the Kansas Supreme Court ruling. That ruling said the state’s death penalty law was unconstitutional because juries were improperly told to impose the death penalty. But the high justices say the Kansas Supreme Court misinterpreted the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.

Monday’s decision marks the end to a long, bitter roller-coaster for families victimized by capital crimes. Most friends and family members of victims we spoke to say they are extremely pleased with the decision.

On the morning of September 13, 1966, an eight-year-old girl found her parents, Doug and Beth Brittain, shot to death in their Goddard home. Gavin Scott was sentenced to death for the crime.

The Loudenback’s were the Brittain’s closest and dearest friends. They sat in the courtroom every day of the trial and were there when Scott was sentenced to death.

"It was a just verdict," Dick Loudenback said at the time.

Since then however, they haven’t felt much justice. In 2004, the Kansas Supreme Court overturned Scott’s death sentence and that of seven others when they ruled the state’s death penalty law unconstitutional.

"We were really disappointed," said Dick Loudenback. "I thought, ’how can they do that?’

But now the U.S. Supreme Court has said the state court is wrong -- the Kansas death penalty is constitutional.

Local officials who helped argue the case were very happy about court’s decision. They felt the state’s death penalty law was valid and thought the justices would agree.

"I am pleased that the highest court in this land has recognized the flawed reasoning of the Kansas Supreme Court," said Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline.

"It’s a very clear decision. It’s a very consistent decision and it’s a well-written decision that will stand the test of time so we are very pleased with the court," said District Attorney Nola Foulston, Sedgwick County.

"What this does today in our community is uphold the verdicts in the cases of Jonathan and Reginald Carr, of Douglas Belt and also of Gavin Scott in this jurisdiction," said Foulston.

Defense experts however, argue those cases are not closed.

"This certainly won’t be the last time we talk about the constitutionality of Kansas’ death penalty," said Wichita defense attorney Dan Monnat. "Today’s decision really just decides a very narrow issue of Kansas death penalty procedure. It doesn’t decide the ethical, moral, religious, or policy reasons of whether we should have a death penalty at all."

Still, the high court’s decision Monday offers the Loudenbacks reason to finally celebrate, confident that justice will be served.

"We’re happy today," said Dick Loudenback.

In the dissenting opinion, Justice David Souter called Kansas’s law "morally absurd".

Monday’s decision will also impact the rest of the country. Thirty-seven states have death penalty laws. Some, like Arizona, are written like ours so this ruling validates those laws as well.

Along with Gavin Scott, six other death-row inmates are affected by Monday’s ruling. Gary Kleypas was convicted for the 1996 rape-murder of Carrie Williams in Pittsburg, Kansas. Michael Marsh was convicted for the killings of Marry Ane and Marry Elizabeth Pusch. Reginald Carr and Jonathan Carr were convicted of capital murder for the December 15, 2000 murders of Jason Befort, Brad Heyka, Heather Muller, and Aaron Sander and of first degree murder (non-capital) for killing Ann Walenta four days before the quadruple murder. Douglas Belt was convicted for the 2002 decapitation of Lucille Gallegos. John E. Robinson, Sr. was convicted of capital murder in the deaths of Izabel Lewicka and Suzette Trouten and of first degree murder in the case of Lisa Stasi, who disappeared in 1985 but was never found.