upreme Court says, so it will be constitutional. We are guessing throwing darts at the board. In 1973 President Richard Nixon responded the Supreme Courts decision during a radio address. He asked the Attorney General, Richard Kleindienst, to create a capital punishment law that would survive judicial review. According to Nixon, this law would include punishment for criminals found guilty for assassination, treason, kidnapping, air hijacking and the murder of law enforcement officials and prison guards. Gregg v. Georgia (1976)By 1976, thirty-five states as well as the federal government had created new laws for capital punishment. Five states that enacted new laws were litigants in five earmarked cases by the Supreme Court to review these laws. The cases were Gregg v. Georgia, Proffitt v. Florida, Jurek v. Texas, Woodson v. North Carolina and Roberts v. Louisiana. Unlike the 1972 decision the court came to a clear majority decision of 7-2 in three of these cases. In the lead case of Gregg v. Georgia, an announcement that finalizes a main issue of the debate, Justice Stewart declared, We now hold that the punishment of death does not invariably violate the Constitution. Justice Stewart goes on in his decision to outline some history to the punishment, pointing to the existence of it for years both in America and England and at the time of the ratification of the Eighth Amendment, capital punishment was a common sanction in every State. The case however only dealt with the crime of murder, and according to Justice Stewart, we cannot say that the punishment is invariably disproportionate to the crime. It is an extreme sanction, suitable to the most extreme of crimes. On the same day, the Supreme Court handed down a much narrower 5-4 decision finding mandatory sentencing laws unconstitutional. Justice Stewart, again writing the majority opinion, explained that historically mandatory sentencing laws led to juries acquitting guilty de...
