Cite as: 511 U. S. 767 (1994)
Scalia, J., dissenting
which they had proposed for ratification." United States ex rel. Marcus v. Hess, 317 U. S. 537, 555-556 (1943) (concurring opinion).
The belief that there is a multiple-punishments component of the Double Jeopardy Clause can be traced to Ex parte Lange, 18 Wall. 163 (1874). In that case, the lower court sentenced Lange to both one year of imprisonment and a $200 fine for stealing mail bags from the Post Office, under a statute that authorized a maximum sentence of one year of imprisonment or a fine not to exceed $200. The Court, acknowledging that the sentence was in excess of statutory authorization, issued a writ of habeas corpus. Lange has since been cited as though it were decided exclusively on the basis of the Double Jeopardy Clause, see, e. g., North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U. S. 711, 717, and n. 11 (1969); in fact, Justice Miller's opinion for the Court rested the decision on principles of the common law, and both the Due Process and Double Jeopardy Clauses of the Fifth Amendment. See Lange, 18 Wall., at 170, 176, 178. The opinion went out of its way not to rely exclusively on the Double Jeopardy Clause, in order to avoid deciding whether it applied to prosecutions not literally involving "life or limb." See id., at 170. It is clear that the Due Process Clause alone suffices to support the decision, since the guarantee of the process provided by the law of the land, cf. Pacific Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip, 499 U. S. 1, 28-29 (1991) (Scalia, J., concurring in judgment), assures prior legislative authorization for whatever punishment is imposed.
The basis for Lange was hardly clarified when, almost three-quarters of a century later and in a case involving nearly identical circumstances (a prisoner who had already paid a $500 fine was sentenced to prison under a contempt statute that permitted only a fine or imprisonment), the Court discharged the prisoner without express reference to the Double Jeopardy Clause and with only a citation of Lange. See In re Bradley, 318 U. S. 50, 51-52 (1943). Chief
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