Case brief summary
The ban on cruel and unusual punishment stops the government from criminalizing a status or illness, but it can still punish someone for an actual action, like being drunk in public.
Facts
Leroy Powell, a longtime heavy drinker arrested about 100 times for public drunkenness, was arrested again under a Texas law banning public drunkenness, with a doctor calling him a chronic alcoholic with strong urges to drink.
Procedural history
An Austin court fined Powell. A Texas county court retried him and found him guilty again, ruling alcoholism was no excuse. With no further state appeal available, he took his case directly to the Supreme Court.
Issue
Does it violate the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause to criminally punish a chronic alcoholic for being drunk in public, when his drinking is linked to a disease that makes it hard for him to control himself?
Holding
The Supreme Court upheld Powell's conviction, ruling that punishing him for being drunk in a public place did not violate the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause.
Reasoning
The Court said an earlier ruling only barred punishing someone for having a status, not for public actions. Powell was punished for behavior, not illness, and creating a new rule about compulsion was better left to states.
Opinions
Majority (Marshall): The record does not prove Powell could not control appearing drunk in public, and the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause does not bar punishing actual public conduct.
Concurrences (Black and White): Black said states may use criminal law to handle public drunkenness and courts should not have to excuse acts caused by inner compulsion. White said conviction was proper because Powell did not show he could not have avoided being in public while drunk.
Dissent (Fortas): Powell could not control becoming drunk or appearing in public due to his disease, so punishing him for that condition is cruel and unusual punishment.