Cite as: 506 U. S. 461 (1993)
Thomas, J., concurring
tween undirected jury discretion and the danger of discriminatory sentencing—a danger we have held to be inconsistent with the Eighth Amendment. When a single holding does so much violence to so many of this Court's settled precedents in an area of fundamental constitutional law, it cannot command the force of stare decisis. In my view, Penry should be overruled.10
III
The major emphasis throughout our Eighth Amendment jurisprudence has been on "reasoned" rather than "moral" sentencing. We have continually sought to verify that States' capital procedures provide a "rational basis" for predictably determining which defendants shall be sentenced to death. Furman, supra, at 294 (Brennan, J., concurring). See also Spaziano v. Florida, 468 U. S. 447, 460 (1984); California v. Brown, supra, at 541; Barclay v. Florida, 463 U. S. 939, 960 (1983) (Stevens, J., concurring in judgment) ("A constant theme of our cases . . . has been emphasis on procedural protections that are intended to ensure that the death penalty will be imposed in a consistent, rational manner"); McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U. S., at 323 (Brennan, J., dissent-10 Indeed, it can be argued that we have already implicitly overruled Penry in significant respects. In Saffle v. Parks, 494 U. S. 484 (1990), we gave a dramatically narrow reading to Penry, reaffirming that under Lock-ett v. Ohio, 438 U. S. 586 (1978), and Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U. S. 104 (1982), the State is free to "limi[t] the manner in which [a defendant's] mitigating evidence may be considered." 494 U. S., at 491. And in Boyde v. California, 494 U. S. 370 (1990), we expressly rejected the significance of Penry's conclusion that " 'a reasonable juror could well have believed that there was no vehicle for expressing the view that Penry did not deserve to be sentenced to death based upon his mitigating evidence.' " 494 U. S., at 379 (emphasis in original) (quoting Penry, supra, at 326). Boyde held instead that a jury instruction will run afoul of Eddings only if "there is a reasonable likelihood that the jury has applied the challenged instruction in a way that prevents the consideration of constitutionally relevant evidence," and the Court made it clear that "a capital sentencing proceeding is not inconsistent with the Eighth Amendment if there is only a possibility of such an inhibition." 494 U. S., at 380.
497
Page: Index Previous 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007