On this day in ...... 1972, in Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that execution of petitioners would violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The single-page per curiam opinion was followed by 200 pages of concurrences and dissents, resulting in a moratorim on executions but no clear direction regarding the future of capital punishment in the United States.
(Prior June 29 posts are here, here, and here.)
