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Thomas, J., dissenting
the fundamental right to "freedom from bodily restraint" recognized by our cases,12 it certainly cannot be defined at the exceedingly great level of generality the Court suggests today. There is simply no basis in our society's history or in the precedents of this Court to support the existence of a sweeping, general fundamental right to "freedom from bodily restraint" applicable to all persons in all contexts. If convicted prisoners could claim such a right, for example, we would subject all prison sentences to strict scrutiny. This we have consistently refused to do. See, e. g., Chapman v. United States, 500 U. S. 453, 465 (1991).13
The critical question here, then, is whether insanity acquittees have a fundamental right to "freedom from bodily
12 The Court cites only Youngberg v. Romeo, 457 U. S. 307, 316 (1982), in support of its assertion that "[f]reedom from bodily restraint has always been at the core of the liberty protected by the Due Process Clause from arbitrary governmental action," ante, at 80. What "freedom from bodily restraint" meant in that case, however, is completely different from what the Court uses the phrase to mean here. Youngberg involved the substantive due process rights of an institutionalized, mentally retarded patient who had been restrained by shackles placed on his arms for portions of each day. See 457 U. S., at 310, and n. 4. What the Court meant by "freedom from bodily restraint," then, was quite literally freedom not to be physically strapped to a bed. That case in no way established the broad "freedom from bodily restraint"—apparently meaning freedom from all involuntary confinement—that the Court discusses today.
13 Unless the Court wishes to overturn this line of cases, its substantive due process analysis must rest entirely on the fact that an insanity acquit-tee has not been convicted of a crime. Conviction is, of course, a signifi-cant event. But I am not sure that it deserves talismanic significance. Once a State proves beyond a reasonable doubt that an individual has committed a crime, it is, at a minimum, not obviously a matter of federal constitutional concern whether the State proceeds to label that individual "guilty," "guilty but insane," or "not guilty by reason of insanity." A State may just as well decide to label its verdicts "A," "B," and "C." It is surely rather odd to have rules of federal constitutional law turn entirely upon the label chosen by a State. Cf. Railway Express Agency, Inc. v. Virginia, 358 U. S. 434, 441 (1959) (constitutionality of state action should not turn on "magic words").
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