Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/103436/schick-vs-reed
Timestamp: 2018-05-27 22:00:25
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Matched Legal Cases: ['art. 118', 'Art. 118', 'Art. 118', '§ 2', 'Art. 118', 'Art. 71', 'Art. 118', '§ 2', '§ 2', 'Art 11', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', 'Art. 118', '§ 877', 'Art. 118', '§ 2', '§ 918', '§ 848']

Schick Vs Reed - Citation 103436 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Schick Vs. Reed - Court Judgment
LegalCrystal Citation legalcrystal.com/103436
Case Number 419 U.S. 256
schick v. reed - 419 u.s. 256 (1974) u.s. supreme court schick v. reed, 419 u.s. 256 (1974) schick v. reed no. 73-5677 argued october 23, 1974 decided december 23, 1974 419 u.s. 256 certiorari to the united states court of appeal for the district of columbia circuit syllabus petitioner, sentenced to death, under art. 118 of the uniform code of military justice, by a court-martial for murder, attacked the validity of a presidential commutation to life imprisonment (under which petitioner had served 20 years) conditioned on petitioner's never being paroled. the district court granted respondents' motion for summary judgment. the court of appeals affirmed, additionally rejecting petitioner's contention that this.....
U.S. Supreme Court Schick v. Reed, 419 U.S. 256 (1974)
Petitioner, sentenced to death, under Art. 118 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, by a court-martial for murder, attacked the validity of a Presidential commutation to life imprisonment (under which petitioner had served 20 years) conditioned on petitioner's never being paroled. The District Court granted respondents' motion for summary judgment. The Court of Appeals affirmed, additionally rejecting petitioner's contention that this Court's intervening decision in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238 , required that petitioner be resentenced to a life term with the possibility of parole, the alternative punishment for murder under Art. 118.
Held: The conditional commutation of petitioner's death sentence was within the President's powers under Art. II, § 2, cl. 1, of the Constitution to "grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States." Pp. 419 U. S. 260 -268.
(a) The executive pardoning power under the Constitution, which has consistently adhered to the English common law practice, historically included the power to commute sentences on conditions not specifically authorized by statute. United States v. Wilson, 7 Pet. 150; Ex parte Wells, 18 How. 307. Pp. 419 U. S. 260 -266.
(b) Since the pardoning power derives from the Constitution alone, it cannot be modified, abridged, or diminished by any statute, including Art. 118, and Furman v. Georgia, supra, did not affect the conditional commutation of petitioner's sentence. Pp. 419 U. S. 266 -268.
BURGER, C.J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which STEWART, WHITE, BLACKMUN, POWELL, and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined. MARSHALL, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which DOUGLAS and BRENNAN, JJ., joined, post, p. 419 U. S. 268 .
The case was then forwarded to President Eisenhower for final review as required by Art. 71(a) of the UCMJ,
In 1971, while appeals challenging the validity of the death penalty were pending in this Court, petitioner filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to require the members of the United States Board of Parole to consider him for parole. The District
Court granted the Board of Parole's motion for summary judgment and the Court of Appeals affirmed, unanimously upholding the President's power to commute a sentence upon condition that the prisoner not be paroled. In addition, it rejected by a 2-1 vote petitioner's argument that Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238 , decided on June 29, 1972, requires that he be resentenced to a simple life term, the alternative punishment for murder under Art. 118. 157 U.S.App.D.C. 263, 483 F.2d 1266. We affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
It is correct that pending death sentences not carried out prior to Furman were thereby set aside without conditions such as were attached to petitioner's commutation. However, petitioner's death sentence was not pending in 1972, because it had long since been commuted.
The express power of Art. II, § 2, cl. 1, from which the Presidential power to commute criminal sentences derives, is to "grant Reprieves and Pardons . . . except in Cases of Impeachment." Although the authors of this clause surely did not act thoughtlessly, neither did they devote extended debate to its meaning. This can be explained in large part by the fact that the draftsmen were well acquainted with the English Crown authority to alter and reduce punishments as it existed in 1787. The history of that power, which was centuries old, reveals a gradual contraction to avoid its abuse and misuse. [ Footnote 1 ] Changes were made as potential or actual abuses were perceived; for example, Parliament restricted the power to grant a pardon to one who transported a prisoner overseas to evade the Habeas Corpus Act, because to allow such pardons would drain the Great Writ of its vitality. There
were other limits, but they were few in number and similarly specifically defined. [ Footnote 2 ]
Various types of conditions, both penal and nonpenal in nature, were employed. [ Footnote 3 ] For example, it was common for a pardon or commutation to be granted on condition that the felon be transported to another place, and indeed our own Colonies were the recipients of numerous subjects of "banishment." This practice was never questioned despite the fact that British subjects generally could not be forced to leave the realm without an Act of Parliament and banishment was rarely authorized as a punishment for crime. The idea later developed that the subject's consent to transportation was necessary, but in most cases he was simply "agreeing" that his life should be spared. Thus, the requirement of consent was a legal fiction, at best; in reality, by granting pardons or commutations conditional upon banishment, the Crown was exercising a power that was the equivalent and completely
independent of legislative authorization. [ Footnote 4 ] 11 W. Holdsworth, History of English Law 569-575 (1938). In short, by 1787, the English prerogative to pardon was unfettered except for a few specifically enumerated limitations.
The history of our executive pardoning power reveals a consistent pattern of adherence to the English common law practice. The records of the Constitutional Convention, as noted earlier, reveal little discussion or debate on § 2, cl. 1, of Art 11. The first report of the Committee on Detail proposed that the pertinent clause read: "He [the President] shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons; but his pardon shall not be pleadable in bar of an impeachment." [ Footnote 5 ] This limitation as to impeachments tracked a similar restriction upon the English royal prerogative which existed in 1787. 4 W. Blackstone, Commentaries *399-400. An effort was made in the Convention to amend what finally emerged as § 2, cl. 1, and is reflected in James Madison's Journal for August 25, 1787, where the following note appears:
2 M. Farrand, Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, p. 419 (1911).
Later, Edmund Randolph proposed to add the words " except cases of treason.'" Madison's description of Randolph's argument reflects familiarity with the English form and practice: "The prerogative of pardon in these [treason] cases was too great a trust." Id. at 626 (emphasis added). Randolph's proposal was rejected by a vote of 8-2, and the clause was adopted in its present form. Thereafter, Hamilton's Federalist No. 69 summarized the proposed § 2 powers, including the power to pardon, as "resembl[ing] equally that of the King of Great Britain and the Governor of New-York." The Federalist No. 69, p. 464 (J. Cooke ed.1961). [ Footnote 6 ]
We see, therefore, that the draftsmen of Art. II, § 2, spoke in terms of a "prerogative" of the President, which ought not be "fettered or embarrassed." In light of the English common law from which such language was
Id. at 32 U. S. 160 .
Id. at 59 U. S. 308 . Later, Wells sought release by habeas corpus, contending that the condition annexed to the pardon and accepted by him was illegal. His argument was remarkably similar to that made by petitioner here:
Id. at 59 U. S. 309 . However, the Court was not persuaded. After an extensive review of the English common law and that of the States, which need not be repeated here, it concluded:
". . . And a man condemned to be hung cannot be permitted to escape the punishment altogether by pleading that he had accepted his life by duress per minas. "
Id. at 59 U. S. 314 -315. In other words, this Court has long read the Constitution as authorizing the President to deal with individual cases by granting conditional pardons. The very essence of the pardoning power is to treat each case individually.
The teachings of Wilson and Wells have been followed consistently by this Court. See, e.g., Ex parte Grossman, 267 U. S. 87 (1925) (upholding a Presidential pardon of a contempt of court against an argument that it violated the principle of separation of powers); Ex parte Garland, 4 Wall. 333 (1867). Additionally, we note that Presidents throughout our history as a Nation have exercised the power to pardon or commute sentences upon conditions that are not specifically authorized by statute. Such conditions have generally gone unchallenged and, as in the Wells case, attacks have been firmly rejected by the courts. See 41 Op.Atty.Gen. 251 (1955). These facts are not insignificant for our interpretation of Art. II, § 2, cl. 1, because, as observed by Mr. Justice Holmes: "If a thing has been practised for two hundred years by common consent, it will need a strong case" to overturn it. Jackman v. Rosenbaum Co., 260 U. S. 22 , 260 U. S. 31 (1922).
A fair reading of the history of the English pardoning power, from which our Art. II, § 2, cl. 1, derives, of the language of that clause itself, and of the unbroken practice since 1790 compels the conclusion that the power flows from the Constitution alone, not from any legislative enactments, and that it cannot be modified, abridged, or diminished by the Congress. Additionally, considerations of public policy and humanitarian impulses support an interpretation of that power so as to permit the attachment of any condition which does not otherwise offend the Constitution. The plain purpose of the broad power conferred by 2, cl. 1, was to allow plenary authority in the President to "forgive" the convicted person in part or entirely, to reduce a penalty in terms of a specified number of years, or to alter it with conditions which are in themselves constitutionally unobjectionable. If we were
Petitioner's claim must therefore fail. The no-parole condition attached to the commutation of his death sentence is similar to sanctions imposed by legislatures such as mandatory minimum sentences or statutes otherwise precluding parole; [ Footnote 7 ] it does not offend the Constitution. Similarly, the President's action derived solely from his Art. II powers; it did not depend upon Art. 118 of the UCMJ or any other statute fixing a death penalty for murder. It is not correct to say that the condition upon petitioner's commutation was "made possible only through the court-martial's imposition of the death sentence." Post at 419 U. S. 269 -270. Of course, the President may not aggravate punishment; the sentence imposed by statute is therefore relevant to a limited extent. But, as shown, the President has constitutional power to attach conditions to his commutation of any sentence. Thus, even if Furman v. Georgia applies to the military, a matter which we need not and do not decide, it could
The Court misconstrues petitioner's retroactivity argument. Schick does not dispute the constitutional validity of the death penalty in 1954 under then-existing case law. Nor does he contend that he was under sentence of death [ Footnote 2/1 ]
in 1972 when the decision issued in Furman, invalidating "the imposition and carrying out" of discretionary death sentences. Id. at 408 U. S. 239 . Rather, he argues that the retroactive application of Furman to his no-parole commutation is required because the imposition of the death sentence was the indispensable vehicle through which he became subject to his present sentence. In other words, the no-parole condition could not now exist had the court-martial before which Schick was tried not imposed the death penalty.
The relationship between the death sentence and the condition is clear. Article 118 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) [ Footnote 2/2 ] authorizes only two sentences for the crime of premeditated murder: death or life imprisonment which entails at least the possibility of parole. Confinement without possibility of parole is unknown to military law; [ Footnote 2/3 ] it is not and has never been authorized for any UCMJ offense, 10 U.S.C. §§ 877-934; Manual for Courts-Martial, 34 Fed.Reg. 10502 (1969). In short, the penal restriction of the commutation was a creature of Presidential clemency made possible only
The retroactivity of Furman is equally unclouded. The Court "[has] not hesitated" to give full retroactive effect to the Furman decision. Robinson v. Neil, 409 U. S. 505 , 409 U. S. 508 (1973). See Stewart v. Massachusetts, 408 U. S. 845 (1972); Marks v. Louisiana, 408 U.S. 933 (1972); Walker v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 936 (1972). The per curiam decision struck down both "the imposition and the carrying out" of discretionary death sentences as cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. 408 U.S. at 408 U. S. 239 . The opinion specifically held that the "judgment . . . is . . . reversed insofar as it leaves undisturbed the death sentence imposed. . . ." Id. at 408 U. S. 240 . The retroactive application of Furman results in more than the simple enjoining of execution; it nullifies the very act of sentencing. In effect, a post- Furman court must ensure a prisoner the same treatment that he would have been afforded had the death penalty not been imposed initially. [ Footnote 2/4 ]
The full retroactivity of a constitutional ruling is aimed at the eradication of all adverse consequences of prior violations of that rule. We have recognized the importance of erasing "root and branch" the adverse legal consequences, both direct and indirect, of prior constitutional violations. See, e.g., McConnell v. Rhay, 393 U. S. 2 , 393 U. S. 3 (1968); Linkletter v. Walker, 381 U. S. 618 , 381 U. S. 639 (1965). The effective operation of this procedure was demonstrated
Since Furman is fully retroactive petitioner's case should be simple to resolve. The terms of Art. 118 of the UCMJ provide that a person convicted of premeditated murder "shall suffer death or imprisonment for life as a court-martial may direct." A death sentence was imposed by the court-martial and affirmed by the Board of Review and the United States Court of Military Appeals, 7 U.S.C.M.A. 419, 22 C.M.R. 209 (1956). The death sentence so imposed was declared unconstitutional by Furman and is therefore null and void as a matter of law. The only legal alternative -- simple life imprisonment -- must be substituted. Concomitantly, the adverse consequence of the death sentence -- the no-parole condition of petitioner's 1960 commutation -- must also be voided, as it exceeds the lawful alternative punishment that should have been imposed. Petitioner should now be subject to treatment as a person sentenced to life imprisonment on the date of his original sentence and eligible for parole. [ Footnote 2/5 ]
"Unlike a pardon, a commutation does not absolve the beneficiary from most of the legal consequences of an offense. [ Footnote 2/6 ]"
be considered for parole -- as a result of an illegally imposed death sentence. [ Footnote 2/7 ]"
Since the majority devotes its opinion to a discussion of the scope of Presidential power, I am compelled to comment. I have no quarrel with the proposition that the source of the President's commutation power is found in Art. II, § 2, cl. 1, of the Constitution, which authorizes the President to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States except for cases of impeachment. Biddle v. Perovich, 274 U. S. 480 (1927). Commutation is defined as the substitution of a lesser type of punishment for the punishment actually imposed at trial. [ Footnote 2/8 ]
The issue here is whether the President's expansion of an unencumbered life term by addition of a condition proscribing Schick's eligibility for parole went beyond the authority conferred by Art. II. Article 118 of the UCMJ and the implementing court-martial regulations prescribe mandatory adjudication of either death or life imprisonment for the crime of premeditated murder. 10 U.S.C. § 918; 34 Fed.Reg. 10704. I take issue with the Court's conclusion that annexation of the "no-parole condition . . . does not offend the Constitution." Ante at 419 U. S. 267 . In my view, the President's action exceeded the limits of the Art. II pardon power. In commuting a sentence under Art. II, the Chief Executive is not imbued with the constitutional power to create unauthorized punishments.
The congressionally prescribed limits of punishment mark the boundaries within which the Executive must exercise his authority. [ Footnote 2/9 ] By virtue of the pardon power, the Executive may abstain from enforcing a judgment by judicial authorities; he may not, under the aegis of that power, engage in lawmaking or adjudication. Cf. United States v. Benz, 282 U. S. 304 , 282 U. S. 311 (1931) (an act of clemency is an exercise of executive power which abridges the enforcement of the judgment, but does not alter it qua judgment); United States ex rel. Brazier v. Commissioner of Immigration, 5 F.2d 162 (CA2 1924) (pardon power does not embrace right to bar congressionally prescribed deportation of prisoners).
While the clemency function of the Executive in the
federal criminal justice system [ Footnote 2/10 ] is consistent with the separation of powers, the attachment of punitive conditions to grants of clemency is not. Prescribing punishment is a prerogative reserved for the lawmaking branch of government, the legislature. As a consequence, President Eisenhower's addition to Schick's commutation of a condition that did not coincide with punishment prescribed by the legislature for any military crime, [ Footnote 2/11 ] much less this specific offense, was a usurpation of a legislative function. While the exercise of the pardon power was proper, the imposition of this penal condition was not embraced by that power. [ Footnote 2/12 ]
The Court today advances the antecedent English pardon power and prior holdings of this Court in support of the legality of the no-parole condition. Neither body of law has established an Executive right to define extra-legislative punishments. [ Footnote 2/13 ] Nor does the historical status of the pardon power in England or analysis of prior nonpenal conditions supply any relevance here.
The English annals offer dubious support to the Court. The majority opinion recounts in copious detail the historical evolution of the pardon power in England. Ante at 419 U. S. 260 -262. See also Ex parte Wells, 18 How. 307, 59 U. S. 309 -313 (1856). The references to English statutes and cases are no more than dictum; as the Court itself admonishes, "the [pardon] power flows from the Constitution alone." Ante at 419 U. S. 266 . Accordingly, the primary resource for analyzing the scope of Art. II is our own republican system of government. See Grosjean v. American Press Co., 297 U. S. 233 , 297 U. S. 248 -249 (1936). The separation of powers doctrine does not vest the Chief Executive with an unrestrained clemency power, supra at 419 U. S. 274 -275, but views his functions as distinct from the other coordinate branches. Ante at 419 U. S. 262 -264. The references to the early American experience are not dispositive. [ Footnote 2/14 ]
18 How. at 59 U. S. 323 (McLean, J., dissenting). Even the authority quoted by Blackstone in support of the proposition, 2 W. Hawkins, Pleas of the Crown 547 (8th ed. 1824), does not actually support the suggestion of unlimited power in the King. In fact, the conditions discussed were either imposed pursuant to statute or of a nonpunitive nature. See Coles Case, Moore K.B. 466, 72 Eng.Rep. 700 (1597); E. Coke, A Commentary upon Littleton 274b (19th ed. 1832). The Court acknowledges instances in which statutory authority placed restrictions on the monarch's power. Ante at 419 U. S. 260 . The critical role of statutes in the imposition of the condition of banishment on pardons of convicted felons was recognized in a letter addressed to a member of the House of Lords:
W. Forsyth, Cases and Opinions on Constitutional Law 460 (1869).
Contrary to the Court's suggestion, limitation of Executive action to the statutory framework is not undermined by earlier decisions of this Court. In Biddle v. Perovich, 274 U. S. 480 , 483 [argument of counsel -- omitted] (1927), the Solicitor General expressly noted that "[a] commutation is the substitution of a milder punishment known to the law for the one inflicted by the court." Mr. Justice Holmes, writing for a unanimous Court, concluded on a related matter that consent to commutation was unnecessary since, "[b]y common understanding, imprisonment for life is a less penalty than death." Id. at 274 U. S. 487 . The Court held that the "only question is whether the substituted punishment was authorized by law. . . ." Ibid. While Holmes' specific reference is to the law of the Constitution, he then proceeds with a discussion of the statutory sanctions. Commutation to life imprisonment without any opportunity for parole would penalize the prisoner here beyond the terms of the UCMJ sanctions.
The requirement that the substituted sentence be one provided by law is not hampered by Ex parte Wells, supra, in which this Court upheld conditional commutation from a death sentence to a simple life term. The validity of mitigation of a sentence without depriving the prisoner of any additional rights is not inconsistent with rejection of unauthorized penal conditions. In Wells, the Court acknowledged that limitations on the pardon power mandated its exercise "according to law; that is, as it had been used in England, and these States." 18 How. at 59 U. S. 310 . Although the Wells Court was not faced with the question
Id. at 59 U. S. 313 . The remaining cases on which the Court relies to sustain the condition offer minimal support and are easily distinguished. [ Footnote 2/15 ]
Bell v. United States, 349 U. S. 81 , 349 U. S. 82 (1955). See Ex parte United States, 242 U. S. 27 , 242 U. S. 42 (1916). The Congress has not delegated such authority to the President. I do not challenge the right of the President to issue pardons on nonpenal conditions, but, where the Executive elects to exercise the Presidential power for commutation the clear import of the Constitution mandates that the lesser punishment imposed be sanctioned by the legislature. [ Footnote 2/16 ]
Nothing in Furman suggests that it is inapplicable to the military. The per curiam carves out no exceptions to the prohibition against discretionary death sentences. The opinions of the five-member majority recognize no basis for excluding the members of the Armed Forces from protection against this form of punishment. Even the list of four capital punishment statutes not affected by the Court's decision, provided by my Brother STEWART, does not include the federal military statutes. 408 U. S. 238 , 408 U. S. 307 (1972). Even more persuasive is the language of my Brother POWELL in dissent which states that "numerous provisions of . . . the Uniform Code of Military Justice are also voided." Id. at 408 U. S. 417 -418.
The fact that a court-martial, rather than a jury imposes the death sentence is irrelevant. In my view, the penalty is equally severe, and, in my view, equally offensive to the Eighth Amendment for that reason, see Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. at 408 U. S. 314 -374 (MARSHALL, J., concurring). Moreover, the potential for abuse and discrimination with which my Brethren were concerned in Furman is as evident here as in the civilian courts.
Although pardon and commutation emanate from the same source, they represent clearly distinct forms of clemency. Whereas commutation is a substitution of a milder form of punishment, pardon is an act of public conscience that relieves the recipient of all the legal consequences of the conviction. See, e.g., United States ex rel. Brazier v. Commissioner of Immigration, 5 F.2d 162 (CA2 1924); Chapman v. Scott, 10 F.2d 156, 159 (Conn.1925), aff'd, 10 F.2d 690 (CA2), cert. denied, 270 U.S. 657 (1926); Note, Executive Clemency in Capital Cases, 39 N.Y.U.L.Rev. 136, 138 (1964); Humbert, supra, n. 6, at 27; Black's Law Dictionary 351, 1268-1269 (4th ed.1968).
United States v. Wiltberger, 5 Wheat. 76, 18 U. S. 95 (1820).
As already indicated, confinement without opportunity for parole is unknown to military law. See text accompanying n. 3, supra. Moreover, the only federal law recognition of this punishment in a civilian context is found in the very limited no-parole provisions dealing with continuing narcotics enterprises. 21 U.S.C. § 848. Guided by the special nature of drug offenses and drug offenders the Congress enacted this narrow exception to universal eligibility for parole. See H.R.Rep. No. 2388, 84th Cong., 2d Sess., 4, 8, 11, 64 (1956).
Ante at 419 U. S. 266 . Wells involved the simple substitution of the lesser penalty of life imprisonment for death; no separate punitive condition was attached to the Executive action. A legal opinion from the Attorney General supplies reasoned interpretations but hardly bears the force of law.
The King's pardon power, from which the President's Art. II power derives, also was subject historically to statutory limitations. See Ex parte Wells, supra, at 59 U. S. 312 -313; id. at 59 U. S. 322 (McLean, J., dissenting).