AIKENS
v.
CALIFORNIA

U.S. | 1972-06-07
No. 68-5027
406 U.S. 813 Supreme Court of the United States (1972) Caution
Also reported at: 32 L. Ed. 2d 511 · 92 S. Ct. 1931 · SCDB 1971-132 · 1972 U.S. LEXIS 52
Cited by 14 cases

Per_curiam
Per Curiam.

Per Curiam.

Petitioner in this case, which has been orally argued and is now sub judice, has filed a Suggestion of Mootness and Motion for Remand based on the intervening decision of the California Supreme Court in People v. Anderson, 6 Cal. 3d 628, 493 P. 2d 880 (1972). That decision declared capital punishment in California unconstitutional under Art. 1, § 6, of the state constitution. The decision rested on an adequate state ground and the State’s petition for writ of certiorari was denied. 406 U. S.

958. The California Supreme Court declared in the Anderson case that its decision was fully retroactive and stated that any prisoner currently under sentence of death could petition a superior court to modify its judgment. Petitioner thus no longer faces a realistic threat of execution, and the issue on which certiorari was granted — the constitutionality of the death penalty under the Federal Constitution — is now moot in his case.

Accordingly the writ of certiorari is dismissed.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (U.S. 1972)
    …cience and Science in Law, 12 Harv. L. Rev. 443, 460 (1899). See n. 19, supra. Tr. of Oral Arg. in Athens v. California, No. 68-5027, p. 21. Although the petition for certiorari in this case was dismissed after oral argument, Aikens v. California, 406 U. S. 813 (1972), the same counsel argued both this case and Furman. He stated at the outset that his argument was equally applicable to each case. National Prisoner Statistics, supra, n„ 18. FBI, Uniform Crime Reports — 1970, pp. 7-14 (1971). Public opini…
    1 / 5
  • Graham v. Collins, 506 U.S. 461 (U.S. 1993)
    …The Court decided two eases together with Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238 (1972): Jackson v. Georgia, No. 69-5030, and Branch v. Texas, No. 69-5031. A fourth case, Aikens v. California, No. 68-5027, was argued with Furman but was dismissed as moot. 406 U. S. 813 (1972). Furman was surprised to discover the victim at home and, while trying to escape, accidentally tripped over a wire, causing his pistol to fire a single shot through a closed door, thereby killing the victim. See 408 U. S., at 294-296, n. 48…
  • Massachusetts v. Oakes, 491 U.S. 576 (U.S. 1989)
    …ecause debt was satisfied); Michigan v. Shabaz, 478 U. S. 1017 (1986) (respondent died); Tiverton Board of License Comm’rs v. Pastore, 469 U. S. 238 (1986) (respondent went out of business and no longer had any claim to press); Aikens v. California, 406 U. S. 813 (1972) (petitioner obtained complete relief under state constitution before federal constitutional claim was decided); Ditson v. California, 372 U. S. 933 (1963) (petitioner executed before petition for certiorari was acted upon). Here, a live dispu…

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