The Supreme Court has in the past considered a variety of legal attacks on capital punishment and responded with varyingand mostly peripheralrulings. In none of those cases did it answer a central question: Has the death penalty become cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment? Last week the court agreed to hear arguments when it reconvenes next fall on that specific question in four cases involving convicted rapists and murderers.
Many legal scholars doubt that the Burger Court will eliminate capital punishment; among other indicators, they cite an earlier case, in which a death sentence was upheld. Justice Black...
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