Cite as: 527 U. S. 373 (1999)
Ginsburg, J., dissenting
1959.3 Applicable to over 40 existing and newly declared death-eligible offenses, see 18 U. S. C. § 3591; §§ 60005-60024, 108 Stat. 1970-1982,4 the FDPA prescribes penalty-phase procedures; principally, it provides for a separate sentencing hearing whenever the Government seeks the death penalty for defendants found guilty of a covered offense. See 18 U. S. C. § 3593.5
In death-eligible homicide cases, the Act instructs, the jury must respond sequentially to three inquiries; imposition of the death penalty requires unanimity on each of the three. First, the jury determines whether there was a killing or death resulting from the defendant's intentional engagement in life-threatening activity. See 18 U. S. C. § 3591(a)(2).6
3 Congress enacted three statutes authorizing the death penalty between 1972 and 1988: Antihijacking Act of 1974, § 105, 88 Stat. 411-413, repealed by FDPA, § 6002, 108 Stat. 1970 (air piracy); Criminal Law and Procedure Technical Amendments Act of 1986, § 61, 100 Stat. 3614 (witness killing); Department of Defense Authorization Act, 1986, § 534, 99 Stat. 634-635 (amending the Uniform Military Justice Act to establish weighing procedures for courts-martial considering the death penalty for espionage). Earlier federal statutes authorizing the death penalty remained on the books, but were not invoked following this Court's decision in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238 (1972) (per curiam), which led to a hiatus in death penalty adjudications. See Little, The Federal Death Penalty: History and Some Thoughts About the Department of Justice's Role, 26 Ford. Urb. L. J. 347, 349, n. 5, 372-380 (1999).
4 See id., at 391, and n. 242 (estimating that the FDPA applies to at least 44 offenses).
5 The sentencing hearing is before a jury unless the defendant, with the approval of the Government, moves for a hearing before the court. See 18 U. S. C. § 3593(b).
6 Section 3591(a)(2) allows the death penalty for a defendant found guilty of a death-eligible homicide "if the defendant, as determined beyond a reasonable doubt at the [sentencing] hearing":
"(A) intentionally killed the victim; "(B) intentionally inflicted serious bodily injury that resulted in the death of the victim;
"(C) intentionally participated in an act, contemplating that the life of a person would be taken or intending that lethal force would be used in
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