Cite as: 536 U. S. 584 (2002)
O'Connor, J., dissenting
(Stevens, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part); see Solem v. Helm, 463 U. S. 277, 284 (1983) (Eighth Amendment prohibits excessive or disproportionate punishment). And I conclude that the Eighth Amendment requires individual jurors to make, and to take responsibility for, a decision to sentence a person to death.
Justice O'Connor, with whom The Chief Justice joins, dissenting.
I understand why the Court holds that the reasoning of Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U. S. 466 (2000), is irreconcilable with Walton v. Arizona, 497 U. S. 639 (1990). Yet in choosing which to overrule, I would choose Apprendi, not Walton.
I continue to believe, for the reasons I articulated in my dissent in Apprendi, that the decision in Apprendi was a serious mistake. As I argued in that dissent, Apprendi's rule that any fact that increases the maximum penalty must be treated as an element of the crime is not required by the Constitution, by history, or by our prior cases. See 530 U. S., at 524-552. Indeed, the rule directly contradicts several of our prior cases. See id., at 531-539 (explaining that the rule conflicts with Patterson v. New York, 432 U. S. 197 (1977), Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U. S. 224 (1998), and Walton, supra). And it ignores the "significant history in this country of . . . discretionary sentencing by judges." 530 U. S., at 544 (O'Connor, J., dissenting). The Court has failed, both in Apprendi and in the decision announced today, to "offer any meaningful justification for deviating from years of cases both suggesting and holding that application of the 'increase in the maximum penalty' rule is not required by the Constitution." Id., at 539.
Not only was the decision in Apprendi unjustified in my view, but it has also had a severely destabilizing effect on our criminal justice system. I predicted in my dissent that the decision would "unleash a flood of petitions by convicted defendants seeking to invalidate their sentences in whole or
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