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103 Nw. U. L. Rev. 1163 (2009)
Executing Retributivism: Panetti and the Future of the Eighth Amendment

handle is hein.journals/illlr103 and id is 1169 raw text is: Copyright 2009 by Northwestern University School of Law Printed in U.S.A. Northwestern University Law Review Vol. 103, No. 3 EXECUTING RETRIBUTIVISM: PANETTI AND THE FUTURE OF THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT Dan Markel IN TRO D UCTIO N ........................................................................................................... 1163 I. UNDERSTANDING PANETI .................................................................................. 1168 A . Panetti and Its R oots ................................................................................. 1169 B. Understanding Panetti's Retributivist Reasoning ...................................... 1173 C. M isrepresenting Retributivism .................................................................. 1179 I1. A COMMUNICATIVE ACCOUNT OF RETRIBUTIVE PUNISHMENT ............................ 1182 A. Holding Agents Responsible for Choices of Unlawful Actions .................. 1184 B. Effectuating Equal Liberty Under Law ..................................................... 1186 C. Retributivism 's Internal Lim its .................................................................. 1189 D. Retributive Punishment as Distinct from Revenge .................................... 1190 III. COMMUNICATIVE RETRIBUTIVISM AND THE DEATH PENALTY ............................. 1192 A. Contingent Retributivist Challenges to Capital Punishment ..................... 1192 B. Categorical Retributivist Challenges to Capital Punishment .................... 1195 C. O bjections Considered .............................................................................. 1202 IV. PANETTI AND THE FUTURE OF THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT ..................................... 1205 A. Panetti as Death Knellfor the Death Penalty: Why Communicative M inim alism D oesn't W ork ...................................................................... 1206 B. Panetti and the End of Penal Agnosticism ................................................. 1212 C O N CLU SION .............................................................................................................. 122 1 INTRODUCTION Whom may a state execute? In a recent case, Panetti v. Quarterman, the United States Supreme Court decided that only those defendants who rationally understand why they are being executed are in fact fit for capital K D'Alemberte Professor of Law, Florida State University; A.B., Harvard College; M.Phil., Univer- sity of Cambridge; J.D., Harvard Law School. For comments and conversations on earlier versions of this Article, I am grateful to participants at workshops at FSU and Amherst College, and to Wendi Adel- son, Kelli Alces, Doug Berman, Curtis Bridgeman, Beth Scrappy Coco Burch, Michael Cahill, Jack Chin, Danielle Citron, Robin Craig, Joshua Dressier, Ian Farrell, Chad Flanders, Steve Garvey, Adam Hirsch, Alyssa Lathrop, Ethan Leib, Wayne Logan, Linda Ross Meyer, Marc Miller, Julian Davis Mort- enson, Michael O'Hear, Gregg Polsky, Alex Reinert, Alice Ristroph, Austin Sarat, Chris Slobogin, Mary Sigler, Shelley Smith, Scott Sundby, Bob Weisberg, Lesley Wexler, and Ron Wright. In addition, I owe thanks to the editing team at the Northwestern University Law Review for their patience and diligence. Comments welcome: markel@post.harvard.edu. 1163

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