Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/11pdf/10-9646.pdf
Page Number: 47.0

Cite as:  567 U. S. ____ (2012) 

1 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

Nos. 10–9646 and 10–9647 
_________________ 

10–9646 

EVAN MILLER, PETITIONER 
v. 
ALABAMA 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF CRIMINAL
 
APPEALS OF ALABAMA
 

10–9647 

KUNTRELL JACKSON, PETITIONER 
v. 
RAY HOBBS, DIRECTOR, ARKANSAS 
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT
 
OF ARKANSAS
 

[June 25, 2012] 

JUSTICE  THOMAS,  with  whom  JUSTICE  SCALIA  joins,

dissenting. 

Today,  the  Court  holds  that  “mandatory  life  without 
parole  for  those  under  the  age  of  18  at  the  time  of  their 
crimes  violates  the  Eighth  Amendment’s  prohibition  on
‘cruel  and  unusual  punishments.’ ”    Ante,  at  2.  To  reach 
that result, the Court relies on two lines of precedent.  The 
first  involves  the  categorical  prohibition  of  certain  pun-
ishments  for  specified  classes  of  offenders.  The  second 
requires  individualized  sentencing  in  the  capital  punish-
ment context.  Neither line is consistent with the original
understanding  of  the  Cruel  and  Unusual  Punishments
Clause.  The  Court  compounds  its  errors  by  combining
these lines of precedent and extending them to reach a result
that is even less legitimate than the foundation on which
it  is  built.  Because  the  Court  upsets  the  legislatively 
enacted  sentencing  regimes  of  29  jurisdictions  without