ACLU v. United States

American Civil Liberties Union v. United States, 21-03 M.S.Ct. 1 (2021), also known as In re: 18 U.S. Code §§ 3591 et seq., was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court on August 5, 2021, which held that was contrary to the Eighth Amendment. The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, a longtime opponent of the death penalty, as a facial challenge to the federal death penalty statutes. The ACLU argued two distinct theories: that the death penalty was per se under the Eighth Amendment, and that the  of the death penalty violated the equal protection clause as  against the federal government.

In a majority opinion joined by three other justices, Associate Justice Ibney00 adopted the former of the two theories and held that the death penalty was no longer consistent with the "evolving standards of decency" standard previously established by the Court in . This holding was based on what the opinion characterized as the lack of scientific evidence supporting the deterrent effect of the death penalty, the consensus of the state legislatures on abolition, and the trends of international law against capital punishment. However, the Court rejected the ACLU's alternate disparate impact theory, holding that a constitutional injury based in disparate impact is not cognizable under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Each of the three justices in the dissent wrote a separate opinion, in large part joining each other's opinions. Chief Justice SHOCKULAR and Associate Justice BSDDC criticized the majority's departure from  and reliance on personal moral considerations, arguing that the death penalty cannot be unconstitutional because it is expressly envisioned by the text of the. Associate Justice Cheatem furthermore argued for the death penalty's permissibility under a retribution theory of punishment and expounded on the non-cognizability of disparate impact claims under the Fifth Amendment.

The decision was legally consequential, overruling  and its progeny, but had little practical impact as all states had previously abolished the death penalty and President NinjjaDragon had proclaimed a federal moratorium on executions.