Supreme Court Landmark Case Gregg v. Georgia

Carol Steiker and Kent Scheidegger talked about the Supreme Court’s 1976 decision in Gregg v. Georgia, the landmark case concerning Troy Leon Gregg, a convicted armed robber and murderer who challenged his death sentence. The Court ruled against Mr. Gregg but established guidelines for states using the death penalty. Clips played during the program included a 2009 Rehnquist Center discussion in which Justices Breyer and Scalia talked about the definition of “cruel and unusual” in the Eighth Amendment; an audio portion of oral argument in the case; and Rachael Penman of Alcatraz East describing the history and modern methods of capital punishment and the controversy over lethal injection.

Professor Steiker is the co-author of Courting Death:The Supreme Court and Capital Punishment and once clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall. Mr. Scheidegger’s Criminal Justice Legal Foundation organization advocates in favor the death penalty and for a more swift-acting criminal justice system. close