480
Blackmun, J., dissenting
877 (1983). A state court's limiting construction can save a flawed statute from unconstitutional vagueness, and where the sentencer is a judge there is nothing wrong with "presum[ing] that the judge knew and applied any existing narrowing construction." Ante, at 471. "The trial judge's familiarity with the State Supreme Court's opinions, however, will serve to narrow his discretion only if that body of case law articulates a construction of the aggravating circumstance that is coherent and consistent, and that meaningfully limits the range of homicides to which the aggravating factor will apply." Walton v. Arizona, 497 U. S. 639, 692 (1990) (dissenting opinion). We have "plainly rejected the submission that a particular set of facts surrounding a murder, however shocking they might be, were enough in themselves, and without some narrowing principle to apply to those facts, to warrant the imposition of the death penalty." Maynard v. Cartwright, 486 U. S. 356, 363 (1988). A limiting construction must do more than merely invite the sentencer to assess in some indeterminate way the circumstances of each case. Clemons v. Mississippi, 494 U. S. 738, 757-761 (1990) (opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part). The source of this requirement is the paramount need to " 'make rationally reviewable the process for imposing a sentence of death.' " Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U. S. 420, 428 (1980) (plurality opinion), quoting Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U. S. 280, 303 (1976) (plurality opinion).
II
The Idaho Supreme Court has determined that under our cases Idaho's statutory phrase, "utter disregard for human life," requires a limiting construction, see State v. Osborn, 102 Idaho 405, 418, 631 P. 2d 187, 200 (1981); Sivak v. State, 112 Idaho 197, 209, 731 P. 2d 192, 204 (1986), and petitioner does not challenge the Court of Appeals' conclusion that the phrase, unadorned, fails to meet constitutional standards. This is understandable. Every first-degree murder will demonstrate a lack of regard for human life, and there is no
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