OHIO ADULT PAROLE AUTHORITY v. WOODARD

Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

William A. Klatt, First Assistant Attorney General of Ohio, argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the briefs were Betty D. Montgomery, Attorney General, Jeffrey S. Sutton, State Solicitor, Simon B. Karas, and Jon C. Walden, Assistant Attorney General.

S. Adele Shank argued the cause for respondent. With her on the brief were David H. Bodiker, by appointment of the Court, 522 U.S. 930, Michael J. Benza, by appointment of the Court, 522 U.S. 804, and Gregory W. Meyers.*

Justice O'Connor, joined by Justice Souter, Justice Ginsburg, and Justice Breyer, concluded that, because a prisoner under a death sentence has a continuing interest in his life, the question raised is what process is constitutionally necessary to protect that interest. Although due process demands are reduced once society has validly convicted an individual of a crime and therefore established its right to punish, v. , 429 (O'Connor, J., concurring in result in part and dissenting in part), the Court of Appeals correctly concluded that some procedural safeguards apply to clemency proceedings. Judicial intervention might, for example, be warranted in the face of a scheme whereby a state official flipped a coin to determine whether to grant clemency, or in a case where the State arbitrarily denied a prisoner any access to its clemency process. However, a remand to permit the District Court to address respondent's specific allegations of due process violations is not required. The process he received comports with Ohio's regulations and observes whatever limitations the Due Process Clause may impose on clemency proceedings. Pp. 288-290. Rehnquist, C. J., announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court with respect to Part III, the opinion of the Court with respect to Part I, in which O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg, and Breyer, JJ., joined, and an opinion with respect to Part II, in which Scalia, Kennedy, and Thomas, JJ., joined. O'Connor, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, in which Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer, JJ., joined, p. 288. Stevens, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, p. 290.