1. Before Moore v. Dempsey : judging death, 1789-1923
American Federalism and the limits of judicial intervention
The first Eighth Amendment case
Weems and the future of the Eighth Amendment
The Bill of Rights, Federalism, and the states
The court limits the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment
The limits of Ex Post Facto claims
Reaffirming the limits of the Fourteenth Amendment
Cruel and unusual punishment
The ordeal of Leo Frank
Saving the Elaine Six
Documents: Justice Nathan Clifford examines the meaning of the eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment in Wilkerson v. Utah, March 17, 1879
An account of the execution of Wallace Wilkerson, May 23, 1879
The Supreme Court reverses the Philippine Court, ruling that penalties imposed violate Eighth Amendment, May 2, 1910
Ratification of the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment , July 9, 1868
Justice Samuel Miller on the application of the Fourteenth Amendment in the Slaughterhouse cases, April 14, 1873
The Supreme Court orders James J. Medley freed after ruling Colorado statute unconstitutional in In Re Medley, March 3, 1890
The court rules that grand juries are not a constitutional right in Capital Cases , March 3, 1884
The Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of electrocution, May 23, 1890
"Far worse than hanging" : the execution of William Kemmler, August 6, 1890
A response to the botched execution of William Kemmler, September 5, 1890
Justice William Moody explores the applicability of Constitutional protections to the states in Twining v. New Jersey, November 9, 1908
The Kansas City Star investigates the Leo Frank Trial, January 17, 1915
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes sharply criticizes the Court's ruling and the due process violations during the trial of Leo Frank, April 19, 1915
Georgia Governor John M. Slaton commutes Leo Frank's death sentence, June 21, 1915
Circuit Court denies new trial for Phillips County "rioters," December 27, 1919
The Supreme Court overturns a State Capital case on the due process grounds in Moore v. Dempsey, February 18, 1923


2. The road to Furman : the due process revolution, 1923-1972
The crucible of race
Scottsboro: round two
The limits of Powell and Norris
Due process and coerced confessions
Cardozo and the limits of due process
The ordeal of Willie Francis
Debating incorporation again
Due process and insanity pleas
The Warren Court revolution
The Court retreats
Documents: Hollace Ransdell reports for the ACLU on the Scottsboro, Alabama case, May 1931
Justice George Sutherland rules on the denial of the Right of Counsel in Powell v. Alabama, November 7, 1932
Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, in Norris v. Alabama, discusses the exclusion of African Americans from juries, April 1, 1935
Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes rules on the inadmissibility of coerced confessions in State criminal trials, February 17, 1936
The Supreme court applies the Sixth amendment's Confrontation Clause to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, January 8, 1934
Justice Benjamin Cardozo rejects the claim that the Double Jeopardy Clause applies to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, December 6, 1937
The Supreme Court on the constitutionality of sending Willie Francis back to the electric chair, January 13, 1947
Justice Felix Frankfurter reviews Georgia's system for determining the sanity of the accused, February 20, 1950
Justice Arthur Goldberg examines the constitutionality of Capital Punishment in cases of rape, October 21, 1963
The law firm of Jenner & Block discusses its client, William Witherspoon, and the case of Witherspoon v. Illinois, Fall 2001
The Arkansas Supreme Court makes its case on the exclusion of jurors based on the jurors' view of Capital Punishment, May 5, 1969
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the National Office for the Rights of the Indigent broadly attack the death penalty on behalf of Edward Boykin, October term 1968
Distinguished lawyers file Amicus Curiae brief in opposition to single-verdict procedures in Capital Cases, October term 1968
The Supreme Court examines due process and the death penalty in McGautha v. California, May 3, 1971


3. The court and popular opinion : moratorium and reinstatement, 1972-1976
The Warren Justices and the idea of progress
Confronting the McGaugtha roadblock
The Eighth Amendment as equal protection
Always cruel and unusual
Abhorrent to currently existing moral values
"Wantonly and so freakishly imposed"
Not intolerably cruel or uncivilized
"The impoverished and underprivileged elements in society"
The death penalty revisited, July 2, 1976
The Stewart-Powell-Stevens trio
The Florida or Texas alternatives
"Simply papered over"
The July 2 cases and the future
Documents: Brief filed on behalf of William Henry Furman by his attorneys, September 9, 1971
Brief filed on behalf of the synagogue Council of America and its constituents and the American Jewish Congress in Furman v. Georgia, September 9, 1971
The Supreme court declares existing death penalty statutes unconstitutional, but five justices in the majority cannot agree on the grounds, June 29, 1972
Five justices endorse the Per Curiam in Furman, June 29, 1971
Four justices dissent in Furman v. Georgia, June 29, 1972
California's Supreme court declares that the death penalty violates California's Constitution, February 18, 1972
Californians respond to State Court's decision on death penalty with Proposition 17, November 7, 1972
State Senator H. L. Richardson writes in favor of restoring California's death penalty, October 31, 1972
Anthony Amsterdam writes in opposition to California's Proposition 17, November 4, 1972
President Richard Nixon urges restoration of the Federal Death Penalty, March 14, 1973
The Supreme court upholds the revised death penalty statutes in Gregg v. Georgia, July 2, 1976
Georgia's revised Capital Punishment Statute, 1976
The Supreme Court upholds the revised Florida statute on capital punishment in Proffitt v. Florida, July 2, 1976
The Supreme Court upholds the revised Texas death penalty statute in Jurek v. Texas, July 2, 1976
North Carolina adopts Mandatory Death Penalty Statute, 1974
The Supreme Court in Woodson v. North Carolina claims that mandatory death penalty statutes constitute cruel and unusual punishment, July 2, 1976


4. Delegating death : the White-Rehnquist court, 1976-1989
"Let's do it"
The balance of power
Narrowing the death eligible: rape
Taking mitigation seriously
Rebalancing aggravation and mitigation
Felony murder
New procedural protections
Rehnquist's complaint
The tide turns
Georgia and Florida revisited
Disciplining the Ninth Circuit
More executions, more limits
The Rehnquist Era begins
Revisiting race
The Rehnquist-White Court
Documents: Norman Mailer recounts the execution of Gary Gilmore, 1979
The Supreme Court denies stay of execution for John Spenkelink, May 22, 1979
The Supreme Court strikes down the death penalty in cases of rape of adult women in Coker v. Georgia, June 29, 1977
The Supreme Court decides that states may not limit mitigating evidence in capital cases, July 3, 1978
The Supreme Court requires individualized consideration of mitigating factors in Eddings v. Oklahoma, January 18, 1982
The Supreme Court overturns felony murder sentence as cruel and unusual punishment, July 2, 1982
The case of Coleman v. Balkcom yields lively debate on the Supreme Court regarding death penalty appeals, April 27, 1981
The justices reverse California Supreme Court on Eighth amendment, July 6, 1983
The Supreme Court reprimands Ninth Circuit on the execution of Robert Harris, April 21, 1992
California executes Robert Alton Harris after long legal battle, April 22, 1992
The Supreme Court decides the Eighth Amendment bars execution of the insane, June 26, 1986
Baldus Study on Race and the Death Penalty in Georgia
Justices reject statistical study on racial disparities in death penalty cases, April 22, 1987
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on executing the mentally retarded, June 26, 1989
The Supreme court rules that states may execute juvenile murderers in Stanford v. Kentucky, June 26, 1989


5. Tinkering with the machinery : limiting death, reaffirming death, 1989-2009
Abstention and intervention
O'Connor's defection
Effective counsel
Kennedy's reconsideration
End of the Rehnquist Era
Beyond the Court
A fatal cocktail
Capital punishment and child rape
The challenges of implementing the death penalty
Documents: Congress limits Federal Habeas Corpus appeals, April 24, 1996
The justices debate "actual innocence" and the death penalty, January 25, 1993
Justice Harry Blackmun and Justice Antonin Scalia debate the death penalty in Callins v. Collins, February 22, 1994
The Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia bans execution of the mentally retarded, June 20, 2002
The Supreme Court rules that the Eighth Amendment prohibits imposition of the death penalty on persons under eighteen, March 1, 2005
Illinois governor George Ryan commutes 167 death sentences, January 11, 2003
The justices debate Kansas death penalty statute, April 25, 2006
The Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of lethal injection in Baze v. Rees, April 16, 2008
New Jersey Commission recommends abolition of death penalty, January 2, 2007
New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine on the State's repeal of the death penalty, December 17, 2009
New Mexico abolishes the death penalty, March 18, 2009
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson signs repeal of the death penalty, March 18, 2009
Nebraska Supreme Court declares electric chair cruel and unusual punishment, February 8, 2008 .