From the New York Times and Associated Press, On This Day:
1976 The Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was not inherently cruel or unusual.
That would be Gregg v. Georgia. You can learn more on the case from Oyez.org. You can listen to audio of the oral arguments and opinion announcement. Only four years earlier, in 1972, the Court had ruled in Furman v. Georgia that death penalty laws, as then written, were unconstitutional. Many state legislatures quickly rewrote their laws to correct problems articulated in Furman.
Today's BLT - Blog of Legal Times - posts, "Death Penalty Protesters Fasting at Supreme Court." It's by Tony Mauro.
For the 20th year in a row, a group of death penalty protesters is holding a four-day demonstration in front of the Supreme Court seeking an end to capital punishment.The protest is timed to coincide with the June 29 anniversary of the court's 1972 ruling in Furman v. Georgia, which halted capital punishment, and the July 2 anniversary of Gregg v. Georgia, which reinstated it in 1976.
Nearly 90 people are participating, according to spokesman Scott Langley, and some of those are on a liquid-only fast to dramatize their opposition to the death penalty. The demonstration, sponsored by the Abolitionist Action Committee, will end tonight with a "closing circle" at 11:30 p.m.
Related posts are in the almanac category index; a related post is coming up.
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