The U.S. Supreme Court has issued numerous rulings on the use of capital punishment (the death penalty). While some rulings applied very narrowly, perhaps to only one individual, other cases have had great influence over wide areas of procedure, eligible crimes, acceptable evidence and method of execution.
| Year | Case | Ruling |
|---|---|---|
| 1879 | Wilkerson v. Utah | Execution as prescribed by territorial (or state) statute does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. |
| 1905 | Rooney v. North Dakota | Adoption of private execution versus public execution after sentence and prior execution does not affect this sentence. |
| 1932 | Powell v. Alabama | Judges are required to ensure that indigent defendants in capital cases who could not represent themselves be appointed counsel. |
| 1947 | Francis v. Resweber | Re-execution after a failed attempt does not constitute double jeopardy |
| 1968 | Witherspoon v. Illinois | A state may not have unlimited challenge for cause of jurors who might have any objection to the death penalty. (See also Morgan v. Illinois (1992)) |
| 1971 | McGautha v. California | Held that death penalty can be imposed by a jury without standards to govern its imposition, and that a unitary guilt and punishment proceeding was constitutional. (First finding modified in Furman v. Georgia (1972), second finding modified in Gregg v. Georgia (1976)) |
| 1972 | Furman v. Georgia | Ruled on the requirement for a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty. This ruling effectively established a four year moratorium on the death penalty between 1972 and 1976, when it was reinstated by Gregg v. Georgia, as listed below. |
| 1976 | Gregg v. Georgia | Reaffirmed the Supreme Court's acceptance of the use of the death penalty in the United States. |
| 1977 | Coker v. Georgia | Under Eighth Amendment, held that the death penalty is an unconstitutional punishment for rape of an adult woman when the victim is not killed. |
| 1978 | Lockett v. Ohio | Sentencing authorities must have the discretion to consider every possible mitigating factor, rather than being limited to a specific list of factors. |
| 1980 | Beck v. Alabama | Jury must be allowed to consider lesser included offense, not just capital offense or acquittal |
| 1982 | Enmund v. Florida | Death penalty is not allowed for a person who is a minor participant in a felony and does not kill, attempt to kill, or intend to kill. |
| 1984 | Pulley v. Harris | Found that there was no constitutional requirement for a proportionality review of sentences in comparable cases throughout a state |
| 1984 | Spaziano v. Florida | It is constitutional for a judge to override a jury's recommendation of life imprisonment and impose the death penalty. Essentially overruled by Ring v. Arizona. |
| 1985 | Glass v. Louisiana | Electrocution does not violate Eight Amendment |
| 1986 | Ford v. Wainwright | Execution of insane persons banned under Eighth Amendment. |
| 1987 | Tison v. Arizona | Death penalty may be imposed on a felony-murder defendant who was a major participant in the underlying felony and exhibits extreme indifference to human life. |
| 1987 | McCleskey v. Kemp | Racial disparities not recognized as a constitutional violation of "equal protection of the law" unless intentional racial discrimination against the defendant can be shown. |
| 1988 | Lowenfield v. Phelps | Found that the function of restricting the class of murderers eligible for capital punishment can be accomplished by explicit law or by findings of aggravating circumstances |
| 1988 | Thompson v. Oklahoma | Executions of offenders age fifteen and younger at the time of their crimes is unconstitutional under Eighth Amendment. |
| 1989 | Stanford v. Kentucky | Eighth Amendment does not prohibit the death penalty for crimes committed at age sixteen or seventeen. (Overturned in Roper v. Simmons (2005)) |
| 1989 | Penry v. Lynaugh | Executing persons with mental retardation is not a violation of the Eighth Amendment. (Overturned in Atkins v. Virginia (2002)) |
| 1990 | Walton v. Arizona | Found judicial sentencing and the aggravating factor "especially heinous, cruel, or depraved" are not unconstitutionally vague. (First finding overturned in Ring v. Arizona (2002)) |
| 1992 | Morgan v. Illinois | A defendant may challenge for cause a prospective juror who would automatically vote to impose the death penalty in every capital case |
| 1993 | Herrera v. Collins | In the absence of other constitutional grounds, new evidence of innocence is no reason for federal court to order a new trial. |
| 1995 | Schlup v. Delo | Expanded the ability to reopen a case in light of new evidence of innocence |
| 2002 | Ring v. Arizona | A death sentence where the necessary aggravating factors are determined by a judge violates a defendant's constitutional right to a trial by jury. |
| 2002 | Atkins v. Virginia | The execution of mentally retarded defendants violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. |
| 2004 | Tennard v. Dretke | Held that all relevant mitigating factors must be considered in the penalty phase of a death penalty case, not just in the trial phase |
| 2004 | Schriro v. Summerlin | Held that a requirement from the Ring decision requiring the jury rather than the judge to find aggravating factors would not be applied retroactively. |
| 2005 | Roper v. Simmons | The death penalty for those who had committed their crimes under 18 years of age is cruel and unusual punishment and violates the Eighth Amendment. |
| 2006 | Oregon v. Guzek | States may limit the evidence of innocence a defendant may present at his sentencing hearing to evidence already presented at his trial. |
| 2006 | Hill v. McDonough | Allowed appeal on civil rights violation grounds, even after habeas appeal |
| 2006 | Kansas v. Marsh | States not prohibited from imposing the death penalty when mitigating and aggravating sentencing factors were both present. |
| 2006 | House v. Bell | Post-conviction DNA forensic evidence can be considered in death penalty appeals. |
| 2008 | Medellin v. Texas | A requirement imposed by a treaty is not binding unless it was enacted by a statute created by Congress. |
| 2008 | Baze v. Rees | Found Kentucky's lethal injection method did not violate the Eighth Amendment |
| 2008 | Kennedy v. Louisiana | States may not impose the death penalty for a crime against the person "where the victim's life was not taken" |
| 2009 | Harbison v. Bell | Indigent death row inmates sentenced under state law have a right to federally-funded habeas counsel in post-conviction state clemency proceedings, when the state has denied such counsel. |