The Chief Justice's opinion then said that the imposition of denationalization was cruel and unusual, in violation of the Eighth Amendment guarantee. Yet, he also had to admit that the punishment of denationalization was not "excessive" in relation to the gravity of the crime since wartime desertion, at that time and historically, was punishable by death. Thus, the death penalty was not "an index of the constitutional limit on punishment." The government cannot impose any punishment short of death in the belief that such punishment would not run afoul of the Eighth Amendment (p. 99).
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