McCleskey v. Bowers

Background

Warren McCleskey, an Afro-American man under a Georgia death sentence, asked the Court for a last-minute pause of his scheduled execution on September 24, 1991. He sought time to file papers asking higher courts to review his case and to raise claims about racial bias in sentencing and problems with his clemency hearing.

Reasoning

The Court declined the application that was presented to Justice Kennedy and referred to the full Court; the application was denied. Justices Blackmun and Stevens said they would have granted the stay. Justice Marshall wrote a dissent explaining why he would halt the execution, grant review, and vacate the death sentence. He stressed that studies and prior litigation showed Georgia defendants who killed white victims were “more than four times as likely” to get death sentences than those who killed Afro-American victims, and he said that recent actions by the State’s Attorney General and the pardons board's chairman undermined a fair clemency process.

Real world impact

The immediate effect of the decision is to allow the execution schedule to continue while requests for review remain unresolved. Because the Court denied the stay, McCleskey will not get extra time from this Court to pursue the requested review, at least from this order. This ruling is not a final decision on the underlying constitutional claims, and the legal fight over the racial sentencing evidence and the fairness of clemency proceedings could continue in other courts.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Marshall’s dissent argued strongly that the death penalty is always cruel and unusual, that McCleskey’s evidence of racial disparity and a biased clemency hearing required relief, and that the Court’s refusal values finality over justice.