2.) This Idea was part of British law for centuries, and was put into the Bill of Rights because excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment were part of the reason for our revolution, the practices of the British …show more content…
Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court rules by a vote of 5-4 that capital punishment, as it is currently employed on the state and federal level, is unconstitutional. The majority held that, in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, the death penalty qualified as “cruel and unusual punishment,” primarily because states employed execution in “arbitrary and capricious ways,” especially in regard to race. It was the first time that the nation’s highest court had ruled against capital punishment. However, because the Supreme Court suggested new legislation that could make death sentences constitutional again, such as the development of standardized guidelines for juries that decide sentences, it was not an outright victory for opponents of the death …show more content…
v. Texas, 1909. The case for Waters-Pierce Oil Company began in 1897 when Attorney General Martin M. Crane filed suit claiming that the said company was part of the trust agreement in Standard Oil in New Jersey. Charged with antitrust violation, the company must pay at least $5,000 per day for 300 days. The company made an appeal stating that the amount violated the Eighth Amendment specifically the Excessive Fine Clause. However, the Supreme Court favored against Waters-Pierce mainly because the company was highly profitable at the time of the trial.
4.) The cruel and unusual punishments clause restricts the severity of punishments that state and federal governments may give to a persons who have been convicted of a criminal offense. The Excessive Fines Clause limits the amount that state and federal governments may fine a person for a crime. The Excessive Bail Clause restricts judicial choice in setting bail for the release of persons accused of a criminal activity during the time after their arrest but preceding their trial. The amendment is meant to protect Americans against unnecessary punishments. The vagueness of its wording, has become a major issue of debate and interpretation in the Supreme