Court Opinion

ID: 9434387
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:45:51.280455+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:50.089674
License: Public Domain

Justice Thomas,
concurring in the judgment.
I agree with Justice Scalia’s view that the proportionality test announced in Solem v. Helm, 463 U. S. 277 (1983), is incapable of judicial application. Even were Solem’,s test perfectly clear, however, I would not feel compelled by stare decisis to apply it. In my view, the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause of the Eighth Amendment contains no proportionality principle. See Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U. S. 957, 966-985 (1991) (opinion of Scalia, J.).
Because the plurality concludes that petitioner’s sentence does not violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments, I concur in the judgment.