of the Court's denying a writ of certiorari ^* to express his conviction that
fair procedural and substantive rules governing the death penalty are not
currently operative and that the death penalty is, therefore, unconstitutional
under the Eighth Amendment's "cruel and unusual punishment" clause. In-
deed, Blackmun argues that the Court has in recent capital punishment
decisions developed two lines of jurisprudence that are logically incompat-
ible. "From this day forward," he says, "I no longer shall tinker with the
machinery of death." In his response, Scalia accuses Blackmun of appeal-
ing to his own moral and personal perceptions rather than, as he should,
to the "text and tradition of the Constitution." Since the Fifth Amend-
ment provides that "no person shall be held to answer for a capital crime
... without due process of law," clearly, argues Scalia, capital punishment
itself cannot be judged a "cruel and unusual punishment" proscribed by
the Eighth Amendment."

The controversy surrounding the issue of capital punishment is especially
important in the present social and political climate of America. After a
long hiatus, executions are again becoming common. Controversy over the
death penalty attracts and nourishes extremists; therefore, familiarity with
the issues and the rationale behind competing positions is imperative. The
selections offered here will prove helpful in gaining that familiarity.

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