Wingo v. Blackburn
Headline: Court declines review of multiple death-penalty appeals, leaving lower courts’ death sentences in place while two Justices urge vacating them as unconstitutional.
Holding: The Court denied review of a series of death-penalty cases, leaving lower courts’ death sentences in place while two Justices dissented as unconstitutional.
- Leaves existing death sentences and lower-court rulings in effect for now.
- Prevents immediate Supreme Court review of the listed capital appeals.
- Two Justices urged vacating death sentences as unconstitutional.
Summary
Background
A group of separate appeals involving death sentences reached the Supreme Court through several federal courts of appeals and state supreme courts. The listed cases include matters from the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits and state high courts in Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, and Florida, among others. The published record lists many docket numbers and lower-court citations for those capital cases.
Reasoning
The Court declined to take up these matters and formally denied review, which means it left the lower courts’ rulings intact. The order in the record is simply “certiorari denied” across a series of cases; no opinion reversing those sentences appears in the document supplied. Two Justices, however, dissented from the denial. They said they would have granted review and would vacate the death sentences because they continue to view the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, citing Gregg v. Georgia (1976) to explain their position.
Real world impact
Because the Supreme Court refused to review these appeals, the existing death sentences and the enforcement decisions of the lower courts remain effective for now. This action is not a decision on the constitutional question on the merits, so it does not settle whether the death penalty is lawful nationwide. The legal landscape could change if the Court later agrees to hear a similar capital case or if other courts reach different conclusions.
Dissents or concurrances
Justices Brennan and Marshall filed a dissent from the denial, stating they would grant review and vacate the death sentences because they consider the death penalty always cruel and unusual under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Opinions in this case:
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