Ohio Adult Parole Authority v. Woodard, 523 U.S. 272, 19 (1998)

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290

OHIO ADULT PAROLE AUTHORITY v. WOODARD

Opinion of Stevens, J.

dence at the hearing. I do not believe that any of these allegations amounts to a due process violation. The process respondent received, including notice of the hearing and an opportunity to participate in an interview, comports with Ohio's regulations and observes whatever limitations the Due Process Clause may impose on clemency proceedings. Moreover, I agree that the voluntary inmate interview that forms part of Ohio's process did not violate respondent's Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

Accordingly, I join Parts I and III of the Court's opinion and concur in the judgment.

Justice Stevens, concurring in part and dissenting in part.

When a parole board conducts a hearing to determine whether the State shall actually execute one of its death row inmates—in other words, whether the State shall deprive that person of life—does it have an obligation to comply with the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment? In my judgment, the text of the Clause provides the answer to that question. It expressly provides that no State has the power to "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."

Without deciding what "minimal, perhaps even barely perceptible," procedural safeguards are required in clemency proceedings, the Court of Appeals correctly answered the basic question presented and remanded the case to the District Court to determine whether Ohio's procedures meet the "minimal" requirements of due process.1 In Part II of his opinion today, however, The Chief Justice takes a different view—essentially concluding that a clemency proceeding could never violate the Due Process Clause. Thus, under such reasoning, even procedures infected by bribery, per-1 107 F. 3d 1178, 1187-1188 (CA6 1997).

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