John Bessler

The Supreme Court said it violates the idea of a person's right to have rights. You couldn't deprive somebody of their citizenship because that's the basis of where they got their rights to begin with, including the right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishments.

The Supreme Court said it violates the idea of a person's right to have rights. You couldn't deprive somebody of their citizenship because that's the basis of where they got their rights to begin with, including the right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishments.

The Supreme Court said it violates the idea of a person's right to have rights. You couldn't deprive somebody of their citizenship because that's the basis of where they got their rights to begin with, including the right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishments.

So it was one thing to punish somebody for desertion by imprisonment, but it's a different thing to strip them of their citizenship.

So it was one thing to punish somebody for desertion by imprisonment, but it's a different thing to strip them of their citizenship.

So it was one thing to punish somebody for desertion by imprisonment, but it's a different thing to strip them of their citizenship.

If the enslaved were simply whipped or lashed with regularity, then it would not be an unusual punishment because it was a common punishment.

If the enslaved were simply whipped or lashed with regularity, then it would not be an unusual punishment because it was a common punishment.

If the enslaved were simply whipped or lashed with regularity, then it would not be an unusual punishment because it was a common punishment.

So necessity was seen as the dividing line between liberty and tyranny. But if you apply that same punishment principle today, that any punishment that goes beyond necessity is tyrannical, there is no need for the death penalty because people are already incarcerated in very secure facilities.

So necessity was seen as the dividing line between liberty and tyranny. But if you apply that same punishment principle today, that any punishment that goes beyond necessity is tyrannical, there is no need for the death penalty because people are already incarcerated in very secure facilities.

So necessity was seen as the dividing line between liberty and tyranny. But if you apply that same punishment principle today, that any punishment that goes beyond necessity is tyrannical, there is no need for the death penalty because people are already incarcerated in very secure facilities.

That core principle that was actually embraced in the founding era is that any punishment that goes beyond necessity, and some of the founders actually talked about goes beyond absolute necessity, was considered tyrannical. That's the principle that the U.S. Supreme Court unfortunately, has never really addressed fully in its jurisprudence in the Eighth Amendment.

That core principle that was actually embraced in the founding era is that any punishment that goes beyond necessity, and some of the founders actually talked about goes beyond absolute necessity, was considered tyrannical. That's the principle that the U.S. Supreme Court unfortunately, has never really addressed fully in its jurisprudence in the Eighth Amendment.

That core principle that was actually embraced in the founding era is that any punishment that goes beyond necessity, and some of the founders actually talked about goes beyond absolute necessity, was considered tyrannical. That's the principle that the U.S. Supreme Court unfortunately, has never really addressed fully in its jurisprudence in the Eighth Amendment.

But it's a core value or belief that existed in the 18th century that has to be, I think, taken into consideration when one is reviewing a punishment like the death penalty.

But it's a core value or belief that existed in the 18th century that has to be, I think, taken into consideration when one is reviewing a punishment like the death penalty.

But it's a core value or belief that existed in the 18th century that has to be, I think, taken into consideration when one is reviewing a punishment like the death penalty.