Cite as: 532 U. S. 424 (2001)
Ginsburg, J., dissenting
U. S. 648, 661 (1915) (compensation for pain and suffering "involves only a question of fact"), it seems to me the other should be so regarded as well.
In Browning-Ferris Industries of Vt., Inc. v. Kelco Disposal, Inc., 492 U. S. 257 (1989), we approved application of an abuse-of-discretion standard for appellate review of a district court's ruling on a motion to set aside a punitive damages award as excessive. See id., at 279. Browning-Ferris reserved the question whether even such deferential appellate review might run afoul of the Seventh Amendment. At that time (i. e., pre-Gasperini), the Court "ha[d] never held expressly that the Seventh Amendment allows appellate review of a district court's denial of a motion to set aside an award as excessive." 492 U. S., at 279, n. 25. We found it unnecessary to reach the Seventh Amendment question in Browning-Ferris because the jury verdict there survived lower court review intact. Id., at 279, n. 25, 280. Browning-Ferris, in short, signaled our recognition that appellate review of punitive damages, if permissible at all, would involve at most abuse-of-discretion review. "[P]articularly . . . because the federal courts operate under the strictures of the Seventh Amendment," we were "reluctant to stray too far from traditional common-law standards, or to take steps which ultimately might interfere with the proper role of the jury." Id., at 280, n. 26.
The Court finds no incompatibility between this case and Browning-Ferris, observing that Browning-Ferris presented for our review an excessiveness challenge resting solely on state law, not on the Constitution. See ante, at 433, and n. 7. It is unclear to me why this distinction should make a difference. Of the three guideposts BMW of North America, Inc. v. Gore, 517 U. S. 559 (1996), established for assessing constitutional excessiveness, two were derived from common-law standards that typically inform state law. See id., at 575, n. 24 ("The principle that punishment should fit the crime is deeply rooted and frequently repeated in
447
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