Morality Opinion In Trop's Case Study

The plurality opinion in Trop gave content to the "evolving standards of decency" by examining, in the tradition of Weems, contemporary punishment practices of other jurisdictions. That expatriation was no longer authorized elsewhere was taken as a significant indication that it had become an outdated anomaly. The standards articulated by Trop, although technically accepted by only a plurality of four Justices, have subsequently been embraced by the full Court. In the 1972 landmark decision of Furman v. Georgia, the Court held that the eighth amendment, now clearly applicable to the states, prohibited the infliction of capital punishment under virtually all state statutes because unrestrained discretion in imposing the penalty had resulted