We are concerned here only with the imposition of capital punishment for the crime of murder, and when a life has been taken deliberately by the offender, we cannot say that the punishment is invariably disproportionate to the crime. It is an extreme sanction suitable to the most extreme of crimes.
Potter Stewart's expression of the majority opinion in 7-2 ruling that the death penalty is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment for premeditated murder, July 2, 1976.
