The Chief Justice forged a narrow majority that helped shift power away from the Federal Government to the states

MARK JENKINSON/CORBIS  
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DEATH PENALTY
McCleskey v. Kemp, 1987
A critical decision on race and crime, it showed an unwillingness to accept statistical evidence of racial inequity in the criminal-justice system. The court upheld the sentence of a black man on death row, finding that while evidence cast doubt on the fairness of Georgia's death penalty, it did not speak specifically to his case
FROM THE JUNE 30, 2003 ISSUE OF TIME MAGAZINE; POSTED SUNDAY, JUNE 22, 2003

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