Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations, compiled by James B. Simpson. 1988.
NUMBER:
1692
AUTHOR:
William J Brennan, Associate Justice, US Supreme Court
QUOTATION:
This Court inescapably has the duty, as the ultimate arbiter of the meaning of our Constitution, to say whether, when individuals condemned to death stand before our bar, “moral concepts” require us to hold that the law has progressed to the point where we should declare that the punishment of death, like punishments on the rack, the screw and the wheel, is no longer morally tolerable in our society.
ATTRIBUTION:
Dissenting opinion in 7-2 ruling that upheld the death penalty, 2 Jul 76
