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“Power, not reason, is the new currency of this Court's decisionmaking.”

Source: Payne v. Tennessee, dissenting opinion, US Supreme Court, 27 June 1991

Context Dissenting on the term's last day as the Court overruled two recent precedents to admit victim impact evidence in capital sentencing; he announced his retirement that day.

Portrait of Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood MarshallUnited States · 1908–1993
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