Ruth Bader Ginsburg

“ Alabama's highest court next declared that the
“jury could not use the number of similar acts that a defendant has committed in other jurisdictions as a multiplier when determining the dollar amount of a punitive damages award. Such evidence may not be considered in setting the size of the civil penalty, because neither the jury nor the trial court had evidence before it showing in which states the conduct was wrongful.” ”

“ Under Haslip, he acknowledges, Alabama's standards for punitive damages, standing alone, do not violate due process. Ante, at 3. But they “invit [e] the kind of scrutiny the Court has given the particular verdict before us.” Ibid. Pursuing that invitation, Justice Breyer concludes that, matching the particular facts of this case to Alabama's “legitimate punitive damages objectives,” ante, at 12, the award was “grossly excessive.” Ibid. The exercise is engaging, but ultimately tells us only this: too big will be judged unfair. What is the Court's measure of too big? ”

“ It will be the only federal court policing the area. The Court's readiness to superintend state court punitive damages awards is all the more puzzling in view of the Court's longstanding reluctance to countenance review, even by courts of appeals, of the size of verdicts returned by juries in federal district court proceedings. ”