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McCleskey v. Kemp

Significance, Further Readings



Appellant

Warren McCleskey

Appellee

Ralph Kemp, Superintendent, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center

Appellant's Claim

That statistics demonstrated that the death penalty was being administered in Georgia in a racially discriminatory manner, thus violating the constitutional guarantee of due process and the ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Chief Lawyer for Appellant

John Charles Boger

Chief Lawyer for Appellee

Mary Beth Westmoreland

Justices for the Court

Sandra Day O'Connor, Lewis F. Powell, Jr. (writing for the Court), William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting

Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, John Paul Stevens

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

22 April 1987

Decision

The Supreme Court rejected McCleskey's claim and upheld his death sentence.

Related Cases

  • Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976).
  • McCleskey v. Zant, 499 U.S. 467 (1991).

Additional topics

Law Library - American Law and Legal InformationNotable Trials and Court Cases - 1981 to 1988