Final answer:
The Supreme Court case of Furman v. Georgia made the death penalty unconstitutional in the United States.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Supreme Court case of Furman v. Georgia made the death penalty unconstitutional in the United States.
In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that the arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and constituted cruel and unusual punishment. This decision led to a nationwide de facto moratorium on executions until the Supreme Court's decision in Gregg v. Georgia in 1976, which upheld Georgia's new death penalty statute as constitutional.
Despite the Furman decision, executions resumed in some states after 1977, and the practice of the death penalty has continued to be a contentious issue in the United States.