Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/11pdf/10-9646.pdf
Page Number: 37

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

1 

ROBERTS, C. 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] 

CHIEF  JUSTICE  ROBERTS,  with  whom  JUSTICE  SCALIA, 

JUSTICE THOMAS, and JUSTICE ALITO join, dissenting. 

Determining the appropriate sentence for a teenager con-
victed  of  murder  presents  grave  and  challenging  ques- 
tions of morality and social policy.  Our role, however, is to 
apply  the  law,  not  to  answer  such  questions.    The  perti-
nent  law  here  is  the  Eighth  Amendment  to  the  Constitu-
tion,  which  prohibits  “cruel  and  unusual  punishments.” 
Today,  the  Court  invokes  that  Amendment  to  ban  a  pun-
ishment that the Court does not itself characterize as un-
usual,  and  that  could  not  plausibly  be  described  as  such.
I therefore dissent. 

The  parties  agree  that  nearly  2,500  prisoners  are  pres-
ently  serving  life  sentences  without  the  possibility  of  pa- 
role  for  murders  they  committed  before  the  age  of  18.
Brief  for  Petitioner  in  No.  10–9647,  p.  62,  n.  80  (Jackson