Court Opinion

ID: 9423325
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:07:09.234815+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:51.620703
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Stewart,
concurring.
If the Constitution gave me a roving commission to impose upon the criminal courts of Texas my own notions of enlightened policy, I would not join the Court’s opinion. For it is clear to me that the recidivist procedures adopted in recent years by many other States1— and by Texas herself since January 1 of last year2 — are far superior to those utilized in the cases now before us. But the question for decision is not whether we applaud or even whether we personally approve the procedures followed in these recidivist eases. The question is whether those procedures fall below the minimum level the Fourteenth Amendment will tolerate. Upon that question I am constrained to join the opinion and judgment of the Court.

 See opinion of The Chief Justice, post, at 586, n. II.

 See opinion of the Court, ante, at 556, n. 2.