Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 20 (2002)

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Cite as: 536 U. S. 304 (2002)

Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting

evidence of contemporary values." Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U. S. 302, 331 (1989). See also McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U. S. 279, 300 (1987). The reason we ascribe primacy to legislative enactments follows from the constitutional role legislatures play in expressing policy of a State. " '[I]n a democratic society legislatures, not courts, are constituted to respond to the will and consequently the moral values of the people.' " Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U. S. 153, 175-176 (1976) ( joint opinion of Stewart, Powell, and Stevens, JJ.) (quoting Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238, 383 (1972) (Burger, C. J., dissenting)). And because the specifications of punishments are "peculiarly questions of legislative policy," Gore v. United States, 357 U. S. 386, 393 (1958), our cases have cautioned against using " 'the aegis of the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause' " to cut off the normal democratic processes, Gregg, supra, at 176 (quoting Powell v. Texas, 392 U. S. 514, 533 (1968) (plurality opinion)).

Our opinions have also recognized that data concerning the actions of sentencing juries, though entitled to less weight than legislative judgments, " 'is a significant and reliable objective index of contemporary values,' " Coker v. Georgia, 433 U. S. 584, 596 (1977) (plurality opinion) (quoting Gregg, supra, at 181), because of the jury's intimate involvement in the case and its function of " 'maintain[ing] a link between contemporary community values and the penal system,' " Gregg, supra, at 181 (quoting Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U. S. 510, 519, n. 15 (1968)). In Coker, supra, at 596-597, for example, we credited data showing that "at least 9 out of 10" juries in Georgia did not impose the death sentence for rape convictions. And in Enmund v. Florida, 458 U. S. 782, 793-794 (1982), where evidence of the current legislative judgment was not as "compelling" as that in Coker (but more so than that here), we were persuaded by "overwhelming [evidence] that American juries . . . repudiated imposition of the death penalty" for a defendant who neither took life nor attempted or intended to take life.

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