Cite as: 509 U. S. 443 (1993)
O'Connor, J., dissenting
any "additional compensation" they believed appropriate, but also encouraged them to do so based on TXO's wealth alone.
Given the absence of another plausible explanation for this monumentally large punitive damages award, I believe it likely, if not inescapable, that the jury was influenced unduly by TXO's out-of-state status and its large resources. The plurality acknowledges this possibility, see ante, at 464, but refuses to address it. TXO, the plurality contends, failed to press its objections to the jury instructions in the state court below. Ibid. I disagree. TXO's brief specifically argued that the jury instructions did not meet the "Haslip standards and [were] not constitutionally permissible." Brief for Appellant in No. 20281 (W. Va.), p. 48; see id., at 44-46 ( jury instructions insufficient under Garnes v. Fleming Landfill, Inc., supra, a recent West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals decision interpreting Haslip). The State Supreme Court of Appeals so understood TXO's challenge. See 187 W. Va., at 473-477, 419 S. E. 2d, at 886-890.
Of course, TXO did not make precisely the same arguments it makes here. But it was not required to. "Once a federal claim is properly presented, a party can make any argument in support of that claim; parties are not limited to the precise arguments they made below." Yee v. Escondido, 503 U. S. 519, 534 (1992). There can be little doubt that TXO argued below that the punitive damages award was excessive; there can be little doubt that TXO identified the jury instructions as being partially responsible. TXO ought not be precluded from fully presenting its arguments here. Because those arguments demonstrate that this award was based on considerations inconsistent with due process, I would reverse the judgment below so the matter could be submitted to the consideration of a second jury.
III
Confronted by a $10 million verdict on damages of $19,000, the State Supreme Court of Appeals in this case did not en-
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