Morgan v. Illinois

Morgan v. Illinois
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 21, 1992 Decided June 15, 1992
Full case name	Derrick Morgan v. State of Illinois
Citations	504 U.S. 719 (more) 112 S. Ct. 2222; 119 L. Ed. 2d 492; 1992 U.S. LEXIS 3548; 60 U.S.L.W. 4541; 92 Cal. Daily Op. Service 5037; 92 Daily Journal DAR 7962; 6 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 421
Case history
Prior	Certiorari to the Supreme Court of Illinois
Holding
A defendant facing the death penalty may challenge for cause a prospective juror who would automatically vote to impose the death penalty in every case.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices Byron White · Harry Blackmun John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy David Souter · Clarence Thomas
Case opinions
Majority	White, joined by Blackmun, Stevens, O'Connor, Kennedy, Souter
Dissent	Scalia, joined by Rehnquist, Thomas
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. VI, Due Process Clause

Morgan v. Illinois, 504 U.S. 719 (1992), is a case decided by the United States Supreme Court. The case established the right of defendants to challenge for cause any juror that would automatically impose the death penalty in all capital cases.

Background

In an elaboration of the Witherspoon v. Illinois (1968) doctrine, the Rehnquist Court considered challenges to the selection of jurors who would automatically vote to impose the death penalty on a defendant convicted of a capital offense. In a 6–3 decision, Justice White wrote for the majority that a defendant facing the death penalty may challenge for cause a prospective juror who would automatically vote to impose the death penalty in every case. Just as a juror who is unalterably opposed to the imposition of the death penalty must be excluded because he or she cannot conscientiously fulfill the oath to follow the law and the instructions to the jury pursuant thereto, so should one who would automatically vote to impose the death penalty be excluded for the same reason. Such a juror, he emphasized, would lack the qualities of impartiality and indifference required by due process. Furthermore, Justice White noted, jurors who would automatically vote to impose the death penalty would not "in good faith ... consider evidence of aggravating and mitigating circumstances" as may be required by law and included in jury instructions.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 504
• List of United States Supreme Court cases
• Lists of United States Supreme Court cases by volume
• List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Rehnquist Court

Further reading

• Belt, John C. (1994). "Morgan v. Illinois: The Right to Balance Capital Sentencing Juries as to Their Views on the Death Sentence Is Finally Granted to Defendants". New Mexico Law Review. 24 (1): 145–170.
• Dillehay, Ronald C.; Sandys, Marla R. (1996). "Life under Wainwright v. Witt: Juror Dispositions and Death Qualification". Law and Human Behavior. 20 (2): 147–165. doi:10.1007/BF01499352. S2CID 145150019.

External links

• Text of Morgan v. Illinois, 504 U.S. 719 (1992) is available from: Findlaw  Justia  Library of Congress  Oyez (oral argument audio)