X-Nico

3 unusual facts about Eighth Amendment


Eighth Amendment

Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, which changed Pakistan's government from a parliamentary system to a semi-presidential system

Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, which bans termination of pregnancy in the Republic of Ireland

Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of South Africa, which allowed members of municipal councils to cross the floor from one political party to another without losing their seats


Bancroft PLLC

Secured a decision in Brown v. Plata from the Supreme Court ruling that California violated the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Pancuronium bromide

In September 2007, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear their first case of whether or not the use of lethal injection does in fact violate the US Constitution's Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Robert N. Chatigny

He gained national attention in 2005 when he delayed the execution of Michael Bruce Ross in order to determine if he was competent to waive challenges to his death sentence and potentially prevent a violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.


see also

Ewing v. California

Justice Scalia was willing to accept that the Eighth Amendment contained a gross disproportionality requirement "if I felt I could intelligently apply it." However, because a criminal sentence can have many justifications—not simply retribution, a goal to which proportionality is inherently linked—it became impossible to intelligently apply a proportionality requirement to noncapital sentences.