''Aikens v. California'', 406 U.S. 813 (1972), was a decision of the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

where a petitioner (in the U.S. Supreme Court, the

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of t ...

(Aikens) is called the ''petitioner'' and the defendant (the State of California) is called the ''respondent'') was appealing his conviction and death sentence. After oral argument had been made on the case, but before the court decided on it, the Supreme Court of California in ''

People v. Anderson ''The People of the State of California v. Robert Page Anderson'', 493 P.2d 880, 6 Cal. 3d 628 ( Cal. 1972), was a landmark case in the state of California that outlawed capital punishment for nine months until the enactment of a constitutional ...

'', declared the death penalty unconstitutional under the state constitution. This made his appeal unnecessary because the decision in ''Anderson'' The Supreme Court would decide later that year, in ''

Furman v. Georgia ''Furman v. Georgia'', 408 U.S. 238 (1972), was a landmark criminal case in which the United States Supreme Court invalidated all then existing legal constructions for the death penalty in the United States. It was 5–4 decision, with each memb ...

'',. that the Death Penalty was under certain circumstances unconstitutional. Aikens was originally one of four cases that were selected along with Furman, but when the ''Anderson'' case was decided by the California Supreme Court, ''Aikens'' became

moot Moot may refer to: * Mootness, in American law: a point where further proceedings have lost practical significance; whereas in British law: the issue remains debatable * Moot court, an activity in many law schools where participants take part in s ...

References

External links

* {{caselaw source , case = ''Aikens v. California'', {{Ussc, 406, 813, 1972, el=no , courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/108560/aikens-v-california/ , googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=13462974644154067586 , justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/406/813/case.html , loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep406/usrep406813/usrep406813.pdf , oyez = United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court United States death penalty case law Capital punishment in California 1972 in United States case law 1972 in California Legal history of California

See also

References

External links