122
Thomas, J., dissenting
tainees as to persons determined in a judicial proceeding to have committed a criminal act.16
If the Court indeed means to suggest that all restrictions on "freedom from bodily restraint" are subject to strict scrutiny, it has (at a minimum) wrought a revolution in the treatment of the mentally ill. Civil commitment as we know it would almost certainly be unconstitutional; only in the rarest of circumstances will a State be able to show a "compelling interest," and one that can be served in no other way, in involuntarily institutionalizing a person. All procedures involving the confinement of insanity acquittees and civil committees would require revamping to meet strict scrutiny. Thus, to take one obvious example, the automatic commitment of insanity acquittees that we expressly upheld in Jones would be clearly unconstitutional, since it is inconceivable that such commitment of persons who may well presently be sane and nondangerous could survive strict scrutiny. (In Jones, of course, we applied no such scrutiny; we upheld the practice not because it was justified by a compelling in-16 The Court asserts that the principles set forth in this dissent necessarily apply not only to insanity acquittees, but also to convicted prisoners. "Justice Thomasí rationale for continuing to hold the insanity acquittee would surely justify treating the convicted felon in the same way, and if put to it, it appears that he would permit it." Ante, at 83, n. 6. That is obviously not so. If Foucha had been convicted of the crimes with which he was charged and sentenced to the statutory maximum of 32 years in prison, the State would not be entitled to extend his sentence at the end of that period. To do so would obviously violate the prohibition on ex post facto laws set forth in Art. I, § 10, cl. 1. But Foucha was not sentenced to incarceration for any definite period of time; to the contrary, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and was ordered institutionalized until he was able to meet the conditions statutorily prescribed for his release. To acknowledge, as I do, that it is constitutionally permissible for a State to provide for the continued confinement of an insanity acquittee who remains dangerous is obviously quite different than to assert that the State is allowed to confine anyone who is dangerous for as long as it wishes.
Page: Index Previous 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007