Wright v. Illinois
Headline: High court declines to review multiple state death-row cases, leaving several death sentences in place while two Justices insist the death penalty is always unconstitutional.
Holding: The Court denied review of numerous state-court death-penalty cases, leaving the state judgments and death sentences intact while two Justices dissented, calling the death penalty always unconstitutional.
- Leaves the listed state death sentences in place for now.
- Allows executions or state proceedings to continue unless changed later.
- Shows the Court declined to resolve death-penalty constitutionality in these cases.
Summary
Background
A group of cases from several state supreme courts involved people sentenced to death. The Court issued a short order: certiorari was denied for these cases, which means the Court declined to hear them and the state-court decisions remain in effect.
Reasoning
The public text contains no majority opinion explaining the decision; the Court simply denied review. The main legal issue raised by the dissents is whether the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments as cruel and unusual punishment. Because the Court refused to take the cases, it left the lower-court death sentences undisturbed rather than resolving that constitutional question.
Real world impact
As a result of the denial, the listed death sentences remain in place for now and are governed by the state-court rulings. This order is not a final ruling on the constitutional question and could be revisited in other cases or on another day. The practical effect now is that executions or continuing litigation will proceed under existing state decisions unless changed by later review.
Dissents or concurrances
Two Justices, in a dissent, said they adhere to the view that the death penalty is always cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and would have granted review and vacated the sentences in these cases.
Opinions in this case:
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