Home > Great American Court Cases > McCleskey v. Kemp

Legal Citation: 481 U.S. 279 (1987)

Appellant
Warren McCleskey

Appellee
Ralph Kemp, Superintendent, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center

Appellant's Claim
That statistics demonstrated that the death penalty was being administered in Georgia in a racially discriminatory manner, thus violating the constitutional guarantee of due process and the ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Chief Lawyer for Appellant
John Charles Boger

Chief Lawyer for Appellee
Mary Beth Westmoreland

Justices for the Court
Sandra Day O'Connor, Lewis F. Powell, Jr. (writing for the Court), William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting
Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, John Paul Stevens

Place
Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision
22 April...