Court Opinion

ID: 9428032
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:22:36.697041+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:11.252794
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Marshall,
concurring in the judgment.
I continue to believe that the death penalty is, under all circumstances, cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238, 314-374 (1972) (Marshall, J., concurring) ; Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U. S. 153, 231-241 (1976) (Marshall, J., dissenting); Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U. S. 420, 437-440 (1980) (Marshall, J., concurring in judgment). In addition, I agree with the Court that the exclusion of veniremen in this case violated the doctriné'.of Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U. S. 510 (1968). I do not, however, join in the Court’s assumption that the death penalty may ever be imposed without violating the command of the Eighth Amendment that no "cruel and unusual punishments” be imposed. Cf. *52Beck v. Alabama, 447 U. S. 625, 646 (1980) (Marshall, J., concurring in judgment). I join in the judgment of the Court.