Cite as: 504 U. S. 71 (1992)
Thomas, J., dissenting
they have recovered their sanity or are no longer dangerous) reasonably fit Congress' ends (treatment of the acquit-tee's mental illness and protection of society from his dangerousness)? 15
In its arguments before this Court, Louisiana chose to place primary reliance on our decision in United States v. Salerno, 481 U. S. 739 (1987), in which we upheld provisions of the Bail Reform Act of 1984 that allowed limited pretrial detention of criminal suspects. That case, as the Court notes, ante, at 81-83, is readily distinguishable. Insanity acquittees, in sharp and obvious contrast to pretrial detainees, have had their day in court. Although they have not been convicted of crimes, neither have they been exonerated, as they would have been upon a determination of "not guilty" simpliciter. Insanity acquittees thus stand in a fundamentally different position from persons who have not been adjudicated to have committed criminal acts. That is what distinguishes this case (and what distinguished Jones) from Salerno and Jackson v. Indiana, supra. In Jackson, as in Salerno, the State had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused had committed criminal acts or otherwise was dangerous. See Jones, supra, at 364, n. 12. The Court disregards this critical distinction, and apparently deems applicable the same scrutiny to pretrial de-15 As may be apparent from the discussion in text, we have not been entirely precise as to the appropriate standard of review of legislation in this area. Some of our cases (e. g., O'Connor v. Donaldson, 422 U. S. 563 (1975)) have used the language of rationality review; others (e. g., Jackson v. Indiana, 406 U. S. 715 (1972)) have used the language of "reasonableness," which may imply a somewhat heightened standard; still others (e. g., Jones) have used the language of both rationality and reasonableness. What is clear from our cases is that the appropriate scrutiny is highly deferential, not strict. We need not decide in this case which precise standard is applicable, since the laws under attack here are at the very least reasonable.
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