Cite as: 532 U. S. 424 (2001)
Syllabus
were enforced involved constitutional violations predicated on judicial determinations that the punishments were grossly disproportional to the gravity of the offense. E. g., United States v. Bajakajian, 524 U. S. 321, 334. The relevant constitutional line is inherently imprecise, id., at 336, but, in deciding whether that line has been crossed, this Court has focused on the same three criteria: (1) the degree of the defendant's reprehensibility or culpability; (2) the relationship between the penalty and the harm to the victim caused by the defendant's actions; and (3) the sanctions imposed in other cases for comparable misconduct. See, e. g., Gore, 517 U. S., at 575-585; Bajakajian, 524 U. S., at 337, 339, 340-343. Moreover, and of greatest relevance for the instant issue, in each case the Court has engaged in an independent examination of the relevant criteria. See, e. g., id., at 337-344; Gore, 517 U. S., at 575-586. The reasons supporting the Court's holding in Ornelas v. United States, 517 U. S. 690, that trial judges' reasonable suspicion and probable cause determinations should be reviewed de novo—that "reasonable suspicion" and "probable cause" are fluid concepts that take their substantive content from the particular contexts in which the standards are being expressed; that, because such concepts acquire content only through case-by-case application, independent review is necessary if appellate courts are to maintain control of, and clarify, legal principles; and that de novo review tends to unify precedent and stabilize the law—are equally applicable when passing on district court determinations of the constitutionality of punitive damages awards. Pp. 432-436.
(b) Because a jury's award of punitive damages is not a finding of "fact," appellate review of the District Court's determination that an award is consistent with due process does not implicate the Seventh Amendment concerns raised by Leatherman and its amici. Pp. 437-440.
(c) It seems likely in this case that a thorough, independent review of the District Court's rejection of Cooper's due process objections to the punitive damages award might have led the Ninth Circuit to reach a different result. In fact, this Court's own consideration of the three Gore factors reveals questionable conclusions by the District Court that may not survive de novo review and illustrates why the Ninth Circuit's answer to the constitutional question may depend on the standard of review. Pp. 441-443.
205 F. 3d 1351, vacated and remanded.
Stevens, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Rehnquist, C. J., and O'Connor, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, and Breyer, JJ., joined. Thomas, J., filed a concurring opinion, post, p. 443. Scalia, J.,
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