Cite as: 532 U. S. 424 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
cretion . . . in imposing a judgment within the range prescribed by statute").
As in the criminal sentencing context, legislatures enjoy broad discretion in authorizing and limiting permissible punitive damages awards. Cf. Gore, 517 U. S., at 568 ("States necessarily have considerable flexibility in determining the level of punitive damages that they will allow in different classes of cases and in any particular case"). A good many States have enacted statutes that place limits on the permissible size of punitive damages awards.6 When juries make particular awards within those limits, the role of the trial judge is "to determine whether the jury's verdict is within the confines set by state law, and to determine, by reference to federal standards developed under Rule 59, whether a new trial or remittitur should be ordered." Browning-Ferris Industries of Vt., Inc. v. Kelco Disposal, Inc., 492 U. S. 257, 279 (1989). If no constitutional issue is raised, the role of the appellate court, at least in the federal system, is merely to review the trial court's "determination under an abuse-of-discretion standard." Ibid.7
Despite the broad discretion that States possess with respect to the imposition of criminal penalties and punitive damages, the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution imposes substantive limits on that discretion. That Clause makes the Eighth Amend-ment's prohibition against excessive fines and cruel and
6 See Gore, 517 U. S., at 614-619 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting). Since our decision in Gore, four additional States have added punitive damages caps: Alabama, Alaska, North Carolina, and Ohio. See Ala. Code § 6-11-21 (Supp. 2000); Alaska Stat. Ann. § 09.17.020 (2000); N. C. Gen. Stat. § 1D-25 (1999); Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2315.21 (Supp. 2000).
7 In Browning-Ferris, the petitioner did argue that the award violated the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment, but we held the Clause inapplicable to punitive damages. The petitioner's reliance on the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment was unavailing because that argument had not been raised in the District Court, the Court of Appeals, or the certiorari petition. See 492 U. S., at 276-277.
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