Opinions
Opinions
Supreme Court
Sandra Day O'Connor served as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1981 to 2006. This page lists the opinions she wrote during her time on the court.
Post Retirement Opinions
After her retirement from the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor continued to hear cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit as a designated judge.
Arizona Appellate Court Opinions
Sandra Day O'Connor served as a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals from 1980 to 1981. This page lists the opinions she wrote during her time on the state bench.
Filters
Filters
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE SCALIA and JUSTICE KENNEDY join, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I join Parts I and II and all of Part III of the Court’s opinion except footnote 11, see ante at 489 U. S. 390, n. 11. I thus agree that, where municipal policymakers are confronted with an obvious need to train city personnel to avoid the violation of constitutional rights and they are deliberately indifferent to that need, the lack of necessary training may be appropriately considered a city “policy” subjecting the city itself to liability under our decision in Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Services, 436 U. S. 658 (1978). As the Court observes,
[o]nly where a failure to train reflects a ‘deliberate’ or ‘conscious’ choice by a municipality -a ‘policy’ as defined by our prior cases -can a city be liable for such a failure under [42 U.S.C.] § 1983.
Ante at 489 U. S. 389. I further agree that a § 1983 plaintiff pressing a “failure to train” claim must prove that the lack of training was the “cause” of the constitutional injury at issue, and that this entails more than simply showing “but for” causation. Ante at 489 U. S. 392. Lesser requirements of fault and causation in this context would “open municipalities to unprecedented liability under § 1983,” ante at 489 U. S. 391, and would pose serious federalism concerns. Ante at 489 U. S. 392.
My single point of disagreement with the majority is thus a small one. Because I believe, as the majority strongly
JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
We decide today whether, at the end of a strike, an employer is required by the Railway Labor Act (RLA or Act), 44 Stat. 577, as amended, 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq., to displace employees who worked during the strike in order to reinstate striking employees with greater seniority.
I
In March, 1984, Trans World Airlines, Inc. (TWA), and the Independent Federation of Flight Attendants (IFFA or Union) began negotiations pursuant to § 6 of the RLA, 45 U.S.C. § 156, on a new collective bargaining agreement to replace their prior agreement due to expire on July 31, 1984. The existing collective bargaining agreement created a complex system of bidding, the general effect of which was to insure that those flight attendants with the greatest seniority would have the best opportunity to obtain their preferred job assignments, flight schedules, and bases of operation as vacancies appeared, and to insure that senior flight attendants would be least affected by the periodic furloughs endemic to the airline industry. Thus, for example, should a job vacancy appear at the highly desirable Los Angeles or San Francisco bases of operation or “domiciles,” the most senior qualified flight attendant who bid on such a vacancy would be entitled to it. Conversely, should a reduction in force eliminate a position in the Los Angeles domicile, the furloughed flight attendant could opt to displace the most junior attendant of equal rank in the entire system
JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case presents the question whether Congress granted the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC), as receiver, the exclusive authority to adjudicate the state law claims asserted against a failed savings and loan association. We hold that Congress did not grant FSLIC such power, and that the creditors of a failed savings and loan association are entitled to de novo consideration of their claims in court. We also hold that creditors are not required to exhaust FSLIC’s current administrative claims procedure before filing suit, because the lack of a clear time limit on FSLIC’s consideration of claims renders the administrative procedure inadequate.
I
From 1983 to 1986, Coit Independence Joint Venture (Coit), a real estate concern, borrowed money from FirstSouth, F.A. a federal savings and loan association. Subsequent disagreements led Coit to file suit against FirstSouth in October, 1986, in the 95th Judicial District Court of Dallas County, Texas. In its state court complaint, Coit alleged that it had received two loans of $20 million and $30 million to purchase two parcels of undeveloped land. Coit alleged that FirstSouth had required it to pay a “profit participation” interest in any profits derived from sale of the property as a condition of receiving the loans. Coit asserted that this “profit participation” fee was interest that, when added to the regular accrued interest rate, made the loans usurious
JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
We must decide today the proper standard for determining whether a party has “prevailed” in an action brought under certain civil rights statutes such that the party is eligible for an award of attorney’s fees under the Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Awards Act of 1976, 90 Stat. 2641, 42 U.S.C. § 1988. This is an issue which has divided the Courts of Appeals both before and after our decision in Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U. S. 424 (1983). The Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits require that a party succeed on the “central issue” in the litigation and achieve the “primary relief sought” to be eligible for an award of attorney’s fees under § 1988. See, e.g., Simien v. San Antonio, 809 F.2d 255, 258 (CA5 1987); Martin v. Heckler, 773 F.2d 1145, 1149 (CA11 1985) (en banc). Most of the other Federal Courts of Appeals have applied a less demanding standard, requiring only that a party succeed on a significant issue and receive some of the relief sought in the lawsuit to qualify for a fee award. See, e.g., Gingras v. Lloyd, 740 F.2d 210, 212 (CA2 1984); Lampher v. Zagel, 755 F.2d 99, 102 (CA7 1985); Fast v. School Dist. of Ladue, 728 F.2d 1030, 1032-1033 (CA8 1984) (en banc); Lummi Indian Tribe v. Oltman, 720 F.2d 1124, 1125 (CA9 1983); Nephew v. Aurora, 766 F.2d 1464, 1466 (CA10 1985). In this case, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit applied the “central issue” test, and concluded that petitioners here were
JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
We decide today whether § 7005 of the Consolidated Onmibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, which directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish a system of user fees to cover the costs of administering certain federal pipeline safety programs, is an unconstitutional delegation of the taxing power by Congress to the Executive Branch. We hold that it is not.
I
In 1986, Congress enacted the Consolidated Onmibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA), Pub.L. 99-272, 100 Stat. 82. Section 7005 of COBRA, codified at 49 U.S.C. App. § 1682a (1982 ed., Supp. IV), and entitled “Pipeline safety user fees,” directs the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) to
establish a schedule of fees based on the usage, in reasonable relationship to volume-miles, miles, revenues, or an appropriate combination thereof, of natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines.
§ 7005(a)(1). These fees are to be collected annually, § 7005(b), from
persons operating -(A) all pipeline facilities subject to the Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979 (49 U.S.C.App. 2001 et seq. ); and (B) all pipeline transmission facilities and all liquified natural gas facilities subject to the jurisdiction of the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 (49 U.S.C.App. 1671 et seq. ).
§ 7005(a)(3). The Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act (HLPSA) regulates interstate and intrastate pipelines carrying petroleum, petroleum products, or anhydrous ammonia.
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, concurring in the judgment.
I agree with the plurality that, on the facts presented in this case, the burden of persuasion should shift to the employer to demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that it would have reached the same decision concerning Ann Hopkins’ candidacy absent consideration of her gender. I further agree that this burden shift is properly part of the liability phase of the litigation. I thus concur in the judgment of the Court. My disagreement stems from the plurality’s conclusions concerning the substantive requirement of causation under the statute and its broad statements regarding the applicability of the allocation of the burden of proof applied in this case. The evidentiary rule the Court adopts today should be viewed as a supplement to the careful framework established by our unanimous decisions in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U. S. 792 (1973), and Texas Dept. of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U. S. 248 (1981), for use in cases such as this one where the employer has created uncertainty as to causation by knowingly giving substantial weight to an impermissible criterion. I write separately to explain why I believe such a departure from the McDonnell Douglas standard is justified in the circumstances presented by this and like cases, and to express my views as to when and how the strong medicine of requiring the employer to bear the burden of persuasion on the issue of causation should be administered.
I
Title
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE BLACKMUN joins, dissenting.
Today the Court holds that the federal Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act (Former Spouses’ Protection Act or Act) denies state courts the power to order in a divorce decree the division of military retirement pay unilaterally waived by a retiree in order to receive veterans’ disability benefits. The harsh reality of this holding is that former spouses like Gaye Mansell can, without their consent, be denied a fair share of their ex-spouse’s military retirement pay simply because he elects to increase his after-tax income by converting a portion of that pay into disability benefits. On the Court’s reading of the Former Spouses’ Protection Act, Gaye Mansell will lose nearly 30 percent of the monthly retirement income she would otherwise have received as community property. I view the Court’s holding as inconsistent with both the language and the purposes of the Act, and I respectfully dissent.
The Court recognized in McCarty v. McCarty, 453 U. S. 210, 453 U. S. 235 (1981), that “the plight of an ex-spouse of a retired service member is often a serious one.” In holding that federal law precluded state courts from dividing nondisability military retired pay pursuant to state community property laws, McCarty concluded with an invitation to Congress to reexamine the issue. Congress promptly did so, and enacted the Former Spouses’ Protection Act. Today, despite overwhelming evidence that Congress intended
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE SCALIA joins, dissenting.
The Court today acquiesces in the decision of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to manufacture a singular exception to its 70-year practice of allowing fixed payments indistinguishable from those made by petitioners to be deducted as charitable contributions. Because the IRS cannot constitutionally be allowed to select which religions will receive the benefit of its past rulings, I respectfully dissent.
The cases before the Court have an air of artificiality about them that is due to the IRS’ dual litigation strategy against the Church of Scientology (Church). As the Court notes, ante at 490 U. S. 686 -687, n. 4, the IRS has successfully argued that the mother Church of Scientology was not a tax-exempt organization from 1970 to 1972 because it had diverted profits to the founder of Scientology and others, conspired to impede collection of its taxes, and conducted almost all of its activities for a commercial purpose. See Church of Scientology of California v. Commissioner, 83 T.C. 381 (1984), aff’d, 823 F.2d 1310 (CA9 1987), cert. denied, 486 U. S. 1015 (1988). In the cases before the Court today, however, the IRS decided to contest the payments made to Scientology under 26 U.S.C. § 170 rather than challenge the tax-exempt status of the various branches of the Church to which the payments were made. According to the Deputy Solicitor General, the IRS challenged the payments themselves in order to expedite matters.
JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
The issue before us in this case is whether a Social Security claimant is entitled to an award of attorney’s fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act for representation provided during administrative proceedings held pursuant to a district court order remanding the action to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
I
Respondent Elmer Hudson filed an application for the establishment of a period of disability and for disability benefits under the Social Security Act, 49 Stat. 620, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 401 et seq. (1982 ed. and Supp. V) on September 9, 1981. On the same day, she filed an application for supplemental security income under Title XVI of the Act. Respondent, now 50, submitted medical evidence indicating obesity, limitations in movement, and lower back pain. Her application for benefits was administratively denied, and that position was upheld on reconsideration by the Social Security Administration. Respondent requested and received a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), where she was represented by a Legal Services Corporation paralegal. At the hearing, respondent testified that she suffered from back pain, depression, and nervousness. Respondent was in a state of anxiety and cried throughout the hearing. The ALJ ordered a posthearing psychiatric examination by Dr. Anderson, a psychiatrist, and respondent’s representative chose to have her undergo an additional evaluation by Dr. Myers, a
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and JUSTICE KENNEDY join, dissenting.
In Booth v. Maryland, 482 U. S. 496 (1987), this Court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibited a jury from considering a victim impact statement during the sentencing phase of a capital trial. The document at issue in Booth was compiled by the Maryland Division of Parole and Probation on the basis of extensive interviews with the two murder victims’ son, daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter. In addition to evidence relating to the personal qualities of the victims themselves, the statement in Booth described the emotional impact of the crime on the victims’ family members, including their resulting sleeplessness, fear, depression, and constant painful memories. The statement also described the family members’ opinions about the crime, the defendant, and the proper penalty to be imposed. Id. at 482 U. S. 509 -515. The majority in Booth took the view that such information “may be wholly unrelated to the blameworthiness of a particular defendant,” id. at 482 U. S. 504, and could divert the capital sentencer’s attention from the circumstances of the crime and the defendant’s background and record, id. at 482 U. S. 505. The majority noted that introduction of evidence of a victim’s good character would entitle the defendant to rebut this evidence, resulting in “a mini-trial’ on the victim’s character.” Id. at 482 U. S. 507. The Court also expressed concern that the opinions of family members
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, dissenting.
I agree with JUSTICE SCALIA that a faithful interpretation of the Eleventh Amendment embodies a concept of state sovereignty which limits the power of Congress to abrogate States’ immunity when acting pursuant to the Commerce Clause. But that view does not command a majority of the Court, thus necessitating an inquiry as to whether Congress intended in CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. § 9601 et seq., and SARA, Pub.L. 99-499, 100 Stat. 1613, to abrogate the States’ Eleventh Amendment immunity. On that question, I join Part I of JUSTICE WHITE’s opinion. I also join Parts II, III, and IV of JUSTICE SCALIA’s opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE KENNEDY joins, concurring in part.
I concur in all but footnote 6 of JUSTICE SCALIA’s opinion This footnote sketches a mode of historical analysis to be used when identifying liberty interests protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment that may be somewhat inconsistent with our past decisions in this area. See Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U. S. 479 (1965); Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U. S. 438 (1972). On occasion, the Court has characterized relevant traditions protecting asserted rights at levels of generality that might not be “the most specific level” available. Ante at 491 U. S. 127 -128, n. 6. See Loving v. Virginia, 388 U. S. 1, 12 (1967); Turner v. Safley, 482 U. S. 78, 94 (1987); cf. United States v. Stanley, 483 U. S. 669, 709 (1987) (O’CONNOR, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). I would not foreclose the unanticipated by the prior imposition of a single mode of historical analysis. Poe v. Ullman, 367 U. S. 497, 367 U. S. 542, 367 U. S. 544 (1961) (Harlan, J., dissenting).
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE SCALIA joins, and with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE joins in part, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I agree with the Court that 42 U.S.C. § 1988 allows compensation for the work of paralegals and law clerks at market rates, and therefore join Parts I and III of its opinion. I do not join Part II, however, for in my view the Eleventh Amendment does not permit enhancement of attorney’s fees assessed against a State as compensation for delay in payment.
The Eleventh Amendment does not, of course, provide a State with across-the-board immunity from all monetary relief. Relief that
serves directly to bring an end to a violation of federal law is not barred by the Eleventh Amendment, even though accompanied by a substantial ancillary effect
on a State’s treasury. Papasan v. Allain, 478 U. S. 265, 478 U. S. 278 (1986). Thus, in Milliken v. Bradley, 433 U. S. 267, 433 U. S. 289 -290 (1977), the Court unanimously upheld a decision ordering a State to pay over $5 million to eliminate the effects of de jure segregation in certain school systems. On the other hand, “[r]elief that in essence serves to compensate a party injured in the past,” such as relief “expressly denominated as damages,” or “relief [that] is tantamount to an award of damages for a past violation of federal law, even though styled as something else,” is prohibited by the Eleventh Amendment. Papasan, supra, at 478 U. S. 278. The crucial question in this case is whether that
JUSTICE O’CONNOR announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion, in which THE CHIEF JUSTICE, JUSTICE WHITE, and JUSTICE KENNEDY join.
This case involves an overbreadth challenge to a Massachusetts criminal statute generally prohibiting adults from posing or exhibiting nude minors for purposes of visual representation or reproduction in any book, magazine, pamphlet, motion picture, photograph, or picture.
I
The statute at issue in this case, Mass.Gen.Laws § 272:29A (1986), was enacted in 1982. [ Footnote 1 ] It provides as follows:
Whoever with knowledge that a person is a child under eighteen years of age, or whoever while in possession of such facts that he should have reason to know that such person is a child under eighteen years of age, hires, coerces, solicits or entices, employs, procures, uses, causes, encourages, or knowingly permits such child to pose or be exhibited in a state of nudity or to participate or engage in any live performance or in any act that depicts, describes or represents sexual conduct for purpose of visual representation or reproduction in any book, magazine, pamphlet, motion picture film, photograph, or picture shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of not less than ten nor more than twenty years, or by a fine of not less than ten thousand dollars nor more than fifty thousand dollars, or by both such a fine and imprisonment. It shall be a defense in any prosecution pursuant to this section that such visual
JUSTICE O’CONNOR announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, III, and IV, and an opinion with respect to Part II, in which THE CHIEF JUSTICE, JUSTICE WHITE, and JUSTICE KENNEDY join.
The questions before us in these cases are whether 42 U.S.C. § 1981 provides an independent federal cause of action for damages against local governmental entities, and whether that cause of action is broader than the damages remedy available under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, such that a municipality may be held liable for its employees’ violations of § 1981 under a theory of respondeat superior.
I
Petitioner Norman Jett, a white male, was employed by respondent Dallas Independent School District (DISD) as a teacher, athletic director, and head football coach at South Oak Cliff High School (South Oak) until his reassignment to another DISD school in 1983. Petitioner was hired by the DISD in 1957, was assigned to assistant coaching duties at South Oak in 1962, and was promoted to athletic director and head football coach of South Oak in 1970. During petitioner’s lengthy tenure at South Oak, the racial composition of the school changed from predominantly white to predominantly black. In 1975, the DISD assigned Dr. Fredrick Todd, a black, as principal of South Oak. Petitioner and Todd clashed repeatedly over school policies, and in particular over petitioner’s handling of the school’s football program. These conflicts came to a head following a November
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, concurring.
Although I agree with JUSTICE SCALIA that Congress may not abrogate the States’ Eleventh Amendment immunity by enacting a statute under the Bankruptcy Clause, a majority of the Court addresses instead the question whether Congress expressed a clear intention to abrogate the States’ Eleventh Amendment immunity. On the latter question, I agree with JUSTICE WHITE, and join the plurality’s opinion.
JUSTICE O’CONNOR concurring.
I join in THE CHIEF JUSTICE’S opinion. As his opinion demonstrates, there is nothing in the Constitution or the precedents of this Court that requires that a State provide counsel in postconviction proceedings. A postconviction proceeding is not part of the criminal process itself, but is instead a civil action designed to overturn a presumptively valid criminal judgment. Nothing in the Constitution requires the States to provide such proceedings, see Pennsylvania v. Finley, 481 U. S. 551 (1987), nor does it seem to me that the Constitution requires the States to follow any particular federal model in those proceedings. I also join in JUSTICE KENNEDY’S opinion concurring in the judgment, since I do not view it as inconsistent with the principles expressed above. As JUSTICE KENNEDY observes, our decision in Bounds v. Smith, 430 U. S. 817 (1977), allows the States considerable discretion in assuring that those imprisoned in their jails obtain meaningful access to the judicial process. Beyond the requirements of Bounds, the matter is one of legislative choice based on difficult policy considerations and the allocation of scarce legal resources. Our decision today rightly leaves these issues to resolution by Congress and the state legislatures.
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE STEVENS joins, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
Awards of punitive damages are skyrocketing. As recently as a decade ago, the largest award of punitive damages affirmed by an appellate court in a products liability case was $250,000. See Owen, Punitive Damages in Products Liability Litigation, 74 Mich.L.Rev. 1257, 1329-1332 (1976). Since then, awards more than 30 times as high have been sustained on appeal. See Ford Motor Co. v. Durrill, 714 S. W. 2d 329 (Tex. App. 1986) ($10 million); Ford Motor Co. v. Stubblefeld, 171 Ga. App. 331, 319 S. E. 2d 470 (1984) ($8 million); Palmer v. A. H. Robins Co., 684 P. 2d 187 (Colo. 1984) ($6.2 million). The threat of such enormous awards has a detrimental effect on the research and development of new products. Some manufacturers of prescription drugs, for example, have decided that it is better to avoid uncertain liability than to introduce a new pill or vaccine into the market. See, e.g., Brief for Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association et. al. as Amici Curiae 5-23. Similarly, designers of airplanes and motor vehicles have been forced to abandon new projects for fear of lawsuits that can often lead to awards of punitive damages. See generally P. Huber, Liability: The Legal Revolution and Its Consequences 152-171 (1988).
The trend toward multimillion dollar awards of punitive damages is exemplified by this case. A Vermont jury found that Browning-Ferris Industries, Inc. (BFI), tried to monopolize
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
Last Term, in Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 U. S. 815, 487 U. S. 857 -858 (1988) (opinion concurring in judgment), I expressed the view that a criminal defendant who would have been tried as a juvenile under state law, but for the granting of a petition waiving juvenile court jurisdiction, may only be executed for a capital offense if the State’s capital punishment statute specifies a minimum age at which the commission of a capital crime can lead to an offender’s execution and the defendant had reached that minimum age at the time the crime was committed. As a threshold matter, I indicated that such specificity is not necessary to avoid constitutional problems if it is clear that no national consensus forbids the imposition of capital punishment for crimes committed at such an age. Id. at 487 U. S. 857. Applying this two-part standard in Thompson, I concluded that Oklahoma’s imposition of a death sentence on an individual who was 15 years old at the time he committed a capital offense should be set aside. Applying the same standard today, I conclude that the death sentences for capital murder imposed by Missouri and Kentucky on petitioners Wilkins and Stanford respectively should not be set aside, because it is sufficiently clear that no national consensus forbids the imposition of capital punishment on 16or 17-year-old capital murderers.
In Thompson, I noted that
[t]he most salient statistic that bears on this
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE SCALIA joins, concurring.
I concur in THE CHIEF JUSTICE’s opinion for the Court. I write separately to address an alternative ground for decision in this case which was raised, but not relied upon, by the District Court. In my view, the rationale of our decision in Stone v. Powell, 428 U. S. 465 (1976), dictates that the suppression remedy be unavailable to respondent on federal habeas.
Over seven years ago, respondent stabbed a woman nine times after she refused to have sexual relations with him. Claiming that he had innocently discovered the body, respondent led Chicago police to the woman, who, upon seeing respondent, immediately identified him as her assailant. Respondent was twice informed of his rights and questioned by detectives. The first time, he gave an exculpatory statement indicating that he had been attacked by the same persons who had assaulted the victim. In the second interview, respondent confessed to the stabbing. He then led police to the knife he had used and to several items of his clothing which were found near the scene of the assault. Respondent sought suppression of both his statements and the knife and clothing on the ground that the warnings he was given were inadequate under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436 (1966). After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied the motion to suppress. The evidence was admitted at trial, and respondent was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 35 years’ imprisonment.
JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court, except as to Part IV-C.
In this case, we must decide whether petitioner, Johnny Paul Penry, was sentenced to death in violation of the Eighth Amendment because the jury was not instructed that it could consider and give effect to his mitigating evidence in imposing its sentence. We must also decide whether the Eighth Amendment categorically prohibits Penry’s execution because he is mentally retarded.
I
On the morning of October 25, 1979, Pamela Carpenter was brutally raped, beaten, and stabbed with a pair of scissors in her home in Livingston, Texas. She died a few hours later in the course of emergency treatment. Before she died, she described her assailant. Her description led two local sheriff’s deputies to suspect Penry, who had recently been released on parole after conviction on another rape charge. Penry subsequently gave two statements confessing to the crime, and was charged with capital murder.
At a competency hearing held before trial, a clinical psychologist, Dr. Jerome Brown, testified that Penry was mentally retarded. As a child, Penry was diagnosed as having organic brain damage, which was probably caused by trauma to the brain at birth. App. 34-35. Penry was tested over the years as having an IQ between 50 and 63, which indicates mild to moderate retardation. [ Footnote 1 ] Id. at 36-38, 55. Dr. Brown’s own testing before the trial indicated that Penry had an IQ of 54. Dr. Brown’s evaluation also revealed
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
I concur in Parts I, II-A, II-B, and II-C of the Court’s opinion.
I
Nothing in the record before us or the opinions below indicates that subsections 1(1) and 1(2) of the preamble to Missouri’s abortion regulation statute will affect a woman’s decision to have an abortion. JUSTICE STEVENS, following appellees, see Brief for Appellees 22, suggests that the preamble may also “interfer[e] with contraceptive choices,” post at 492 U. S. 564, because certain contraceptive devices act on a female ovum after it has been fertilized by a male sperm. The Missouri Act defines “conception” as “the fertilization of the ovum of a female by a sperm of a male,” Mo.Rev.Stat. § 188.015(3) (1986), and invests “unborn children” with “protectable interests in life, health, and wellbeing,” § 1.205.1(2), from “the moment of conception…. ” § 1.205.3. JUSTICE STEVENS asserts that any possible interference with a woman’s right to use such postfertilization contraceptive devices would be unconstitutional under Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U. S. 479 (1965), and our subsequent contraception cases. Post at 492 U. S. 564 -566. Similarly, certain amici suggest that the Missouri Act’s preamble may prohibit the developing technology of in vitro fertilization, a technique used to aid couples otherwise unable to bear children in which a number of ova are removed from the woman and fertilized by male sperm. This process often produces excess
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE BRENNAN and JUSTICE STEVENS join as to Part II, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
I
Judicial review of government action under the Establishment Clause is a delicate task. The Court has avoided drawing lines which entirely sweep away all government recognition and acknowledgment of the role of religion in the lives of our citizens, for to do so would exhibit not neutrality, but hostility, to religion. Instead, the courts have made case-specific examinations of the challenged government action and have attempted to do so with the aid of the standards described by JUSTICE BLACKMUN in Part III-A of the Court’s opinion. Ante at 492 U. S. 590 -594. Unfortunately, even the development of articulable standards and guidelines has not always resulted in agreement among the Members of this Court on the results in individual cases. And so it is again today.
The constitutionality of the two displays at issue in these cases turns on how we interpret and apply the holding in Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U. S. 668 (1984), in which we rejected an Establishment Clause challenge to the city of Pawtucket’s inclusion of a creche in its annual Christmas holiday display. The seasonal display reviewed in Lynch was located in a privately owned park in the heart of the shopping district. Id. at 465 U. S. 671. In addition to the creche, the display included
a Santa Claus house, reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh, candy-striped poles, a Christmas tree, carolers,
Justice O’CONNOR, Circuit Justice.
Applicant, the State of California, requests a stay of the mandate of the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, pending disposition of its petition for a writ of certiorari.
Applicant, through its attorney general on behalf of himself and as parens patriae, brought the underlying action as a private plaintiff to enjoin the merger of respondent Lucky Stores, Inc., the largest retail grocery chain in California, and respondent American Stores Company, operator of Alpha Beta, the fourth largest retail grocery chain in California.* Applicant contends that the merger would substantially lessen competition in the relevant markets, in violation of § 7 of the Clayton Act, 38 Stat. 731, as amended, 15 U.S.C. 18, § 1 of the Sherman Act, 26 Stat. 209, as amended, 15 U.S.C. 1, and California’s Cartwright Antitrust and Unfair Competition Acts, Cal.Bus. & Prof.Code §§ 16700-16761 and 17200-17208 (West 1987 and Supp.1989).
The District Court granted applicant’s motion for a preliminary injunction and ordered respondents to operate the two companies independently and refrain from merging or integrating their assets and businesses during the pendency of the action. 697 F.Supp. 1125 (CD Cal.1988). The court concluded:
“The overwhelming statistical evidence has demonstrated a strong probability that the proposed merger will substantially lessen competition in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act. This showing has not been
JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
The citizen suit provision of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA), 90 Stat. 2825, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 6972 (1982 ed. and Supp. V), permits individuals to commence an action in district court to enforce waste disposal regulations promulgated under the Act. At least 60 days before commencing suit, plaintiffs must notify the alleged violator, the State, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of their intent to sue. 42 U.S.C. § 6972(b)(1). This 60-day notice provision was modeled upon § 304 of the Clean Air Amendments of 1970, 84 Stat. 1706, as amended, 42 U.S.C.§ 7604(1982 ed.). Since 1970, a number of other federal statutes have incorporated notice provisions patterned after § 304. [ Footnote 1 ] In this case, we must decide whether compliance with the 60-day notice provision is a mandatory precondition to suit, or can be disregarded by the district court at its discretion.
I
Petitioners own a commercial dairy farm located next to respondent’s sanitary landfill. In April, 1981, believing that the landfill operation violated standards established under RCRA, petitioners sent respondent written notice of their intention to file suit. A year later, petitioners commenced this action. On March 1, 1983, respondent moved for summary judgment on the ground that petitioners had failed to notify Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the EPA of their intent to sue, as required by § 6972(b)(1).