McCleskey v. Kemp
| McCleskey v. Kemp | |
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| Argued October 15, 1986 Decided April 22, 1987 |
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| Full case name | Warren McCleskey v. Kemp, Superintendent, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center |
| Citations | 481 U.S. 279 (more)
107 S. Ct. 1756; 95 L. Ed. 2d 262; 1987 U.S. LEXIS 1817; 55 U.S.L.W. 4537
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| Prior history | Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit |
| Holding | |
| Despite the presentation of empirical evidence that asserted racial disparity in application of the death penalty, aggregate evidence is insufficient to invalidate an individual defendant's death sentence. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Powell, joined by Rehnquist, White, O'Connor, Scalia |
| Dissent | Brennan, joined by Marshall; Blackmun, Stevens (in part) |
| Dissent | Blackmun, joined by Marshall, Stevens; Brennan (in part) |
| Dissent | Stevens, joined by Blackmun |
| Laws applied | |
| Equal protection clause, Title VII | |
McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279 (1987), was a United States Supreme Court case, in which the death penalty sentencing of Warren McCleskey for armed robbery and murder was upheld. The Court said the "racially disproportionate impact" in the Georgia death penalty indicated by a comprehensive scientific study was not enough to overturn the guilty verdict without showing a "racially discriminatory purpose."McCleskey has been described as the “most far-reaching post-Gregg challenge to capital sentencing.”
McCleskey was named one of the worst Supreme Court decisions since World War II by a Los Angeles Times survey among legal scholars. In a New York Times comment eight days after the decision, Anthony Lewis charged that the Supreme Court had "effectively condoned the expression of racism in a profound aspect of our law."Anthony G. Amsterdam called it “the Dred Scott decision of our time.”
Justice Lewis Powell, when asked by his biographer if he wanted to change his vote in any case, replied, "Yes, McCleskey v. Kemp."
Warren McCleskey was convicted of two counts of armed robbery and one count of murder in the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia. McCleskey was African American; his victim was white Atlanta Police Officer Frank Schlatt. At the sentencing hearing, the jury found two aggravating circumstances existed beyond a reasonable doubt: the murder was committed during the course of an armed robbery, and the murder was committed upon a police officer engaged in the performance of his duties. A finding of either aggravating circumstance was sufficient to impose the death penalty. Petitioner did not provide any mitigating circumstances, and the jury recommended the death penalty. The court followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced petitioner to death.
On appeal to the federal courts via a habeas petition, petitioner alleged the state's capital sentencing process was administered in a racially discriminatory manner in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Petitioner based his claims on a study, conducted by jurists David C. Baldus, Charles Pulaski, and statistician George Woodworth (the “Baldus study”), that indicated a risk that racial consideration entered into capital sentencing determinations.
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