Death Penalty Redux: Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's Role in the Rehnquist Court and the Future of the Death Penalty in America
January 2002
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DEATH PENALTY REDUX: JUSTICE SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR'S ROLE ON THE REHNQUIST COURT AND THE FUTURE OF THE DEATH
PENALTY IN AMERICA
Victoria Ashley'
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 407
THE DEATH PENALTY IN 2001 COMPARED TO THE
DEATH PENALTY IN 1971 (PRE-FURMAN) 410
BACKGROUND OF JUSTICE SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR 412
JUSTICE O'CONNOR'S ROLE ON THE REHNQUIST COURT 413
JUSTICE O'CONNOR'S PRAGMATIC APPROACH TO
JURISPRUDENCE 415
JUSTICE O'CONNOR'S DECISIONS IN OTHER AREAS
OF THE LAW 416
Non-parental visitation statutes 416
Abortion 416
Voting Rights Decisions 417
JUSTICE O'CONNOR'S DECISIONS IN DEATH PENALTY
CASES 418
Accomplice Felony Murder: Enmund v. Florida 418
Accomplice Felony Murder: Tison v. Arizona 419
Juvenile Murderers and the Death Penalty:
Thompson v. Oklahoma 42 l
Mental Retardation and the Dea"th Penalty:
Penry v. Lynaugh 42l
Mental Retardation and the Death Penalty:
Penry v. Johnson 422
CONCLUSION 424
l. INTRODUCTION
Concerns about capital punishment expressed publicly by United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor could signal that changes are ahead in the way the Supreme Court deals with the death penalty. On July
'J.D., Baylor University School of Law, May 2002; B.L.S. in Psychology, summa cum
laude, Saint Edward's University. 1994.
408 BAYLOR LAW REVIEW [Vol. 54:2
1, 2001, in an address to the Minnesota Women Lawyers, Justice O'Connor expressed her concerns regarding the implementation of the death penalty in the United States. Justice