Gregg V. Georgia Case Study

The Supreme Court case of Gregg V. Georgia dealt with administrative law, which is the legal field that regulates the due process clause in the Constitution. The clause is about the Government having the obligations to respect and uphold the legal rights of American people during and after they are arrested. Troy Leon Gregg and other inmates on death row believed that the death sentence was in direct violation of the 8th and 14th Amendments, which dealt with cruel and unusual punishment and that states must require due process. Gregg was found guilty for armed robbery, and the murders of two men in 1973. From that the Supreme Court had accepted his death sentence for the charges of murder and not of armed robbery thus being the first man in
Justice Stewart was the one to announce this opinion and did to write for Justice Powell, Stevens, and himself. Justice Stewart does believe that capital punishment is seen as ok in the public's eyes and should then be a valid legislative consideration (“Gregg V. Georgia. 428 U.S.153” Justia.org 154). The only way to impose the death penalty was to agree with three circumstances:
(1) that the murder was committed while the offender was engaged in the commission of other capital felonies, ... (2) that he committed the murder for the purpose of receiving the victim's' money and automobile; or (3) that the murder was “outrageously and wantonly vile, horrible and inhuman” in that it “involved the depravity of [the] mind of the defendant. ...” (“Gregg V. Georgia. 428 U.S.153” Justia.org 153)
After reviewing the case the justices agreed to have the death sentence, because it was a fair punishment for the capital crime committed, and followed Georgia's new legislation. Justice Stewart was able to get Justice Burger, Stewart, White, Blackmun, Powell, Rehnquist, and Stevens to sign