Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/14-7955_aplc.pdf
Page Number: 40.0

Cite as:  576 U. S. ____ (2015) 

7 

SCALIA, J., concurring 

standards  of  decency.”  Time  and  again,  the  People  have
voted  to  exact  the  death  penalty  as  punishment  for  the 
most  serious  of  crimes.    Time  and  again,  this  Court  has 
upheld that decision.  And time and again, a vocal minor- 
ity  of  this  Court  has  insisted  that  things  have  “changed 
radically,”  post,  at  2,  and  has  sought  to  replace  the  judg-
ments of the People with their own standards of decency. 

Capital  punishment  presents  moral  questions  that
philosophers,  theologians,  and  statesmen  have  grappled 
with  for  millennia.    The  Framers  of  our  Constitution 
disagreed  bitterly  on  the  matter.    For  that  reason,  they 
handled it the same way they handled many other contro-
versial  issues:  they  left  it  to  the  People  to  decide.    By
arrogating to himself the power to overturn that decision,
JUSTICE BREYER does not just reject the death penalty, he 
rejects the Enlightenment.