Baker v. Zant

Background

Daniel Joseph Baker, a man facing a death sentence in Georgia, sought review of his case from the United States Supreme Court after proceedings in the Superior Court of Butts County, Georgia. The Court was asked to hear his appeal by a formal request called certiorari, which asks the high Court to take a case.

Reasoning

The Court declined to take the case and denied that request, so it did not decide the underlying constitutional claim about the death sentence. Two Justices, Brennan and Marshall, wrote a dissent saying they adhere to their view that the death penalty is always cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and that they would have granted review and vacated the sentence. The majority left the lower-court result in place by refusing review.

Real world impact

Because the Supreme Court refused to review the case, the existing death sentence remains in effect for this individual unless changed by later proceedings. A denial of review is not a decision on the merits of constitutional arguments, so this outcome could change if the Court later agrees to hear a similar case or if other courts act.

Dissents or concurrances

The dissent by Justices Brennan and Marshall is important here: they explicitly state they would have taken the case and would have overturned the death sentence, relying on their long-held view that capital punishment violates the Constitution.