Cite as: 514 U. S. 499 (1995)
Stevens, J., dissenting
Those propositions compel the conclusion that, as applied to the general prison population, replacing a statutory right to an annual parole hearing with a right to such a hearing every three years would violate the Ex Post Facto Clause of the Federal Constitution. Though nowhere disputing this conclusion, the majority holds that the 1981 amendment to the California parole statute is not ex post facto legislation because it applies only to a small subset of the prison population, namely multiple murderers, see ante, at 510, and because the Board must make a special finding before depriving a prisoner of an annual hearing, see ante, at 511. In my view, neither of these features is sufficient to save what is otherwise a plainly invalid statute.
I
The Constitution provides that "[n]o State shall . . . pass any . . . ex post facto Law." Art. I, § 10. The Framers viewed the prohibition on ex post facto legislation as one of the fundamental protections against arbitrary and oppressive government.1 Thus, for example, Madison noted that "ex post facto laws . . . are contrary to the first principles of the social compact and to every principle of sound legislation." The Federalist No. 44, p. 282 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961). Similarly, Hamilton counted the prohibition on ex post facto laws among the three protections that he described as "greater securities to liberty and republicanism than any [the Constitution] contains." Id., No. 84, at 511.
Although the text of the Ex Post Facto Clause is not self-explanatory, its basic coverage has been well understood at least since 1798, when the Court in Calder v. Bull, 3 Dall.
1 That the Framers included two separate clauses in the Constitution prohibiting ex post facto legislation, see Art. I, § 9, cl. 3 ("No Bill of Attain-der or ex post facto Law shall be passed"); Art. I, § 10 ("No State shall . . . pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts"), highlights the Framers' appraisal of the importance of that prohibition.
515
Page: Index Previous 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007