This passage discusses the constitutional conflict around the death penalty in the United States. It describes how the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional as a cruel and unusual punishment in the 1960s, but then upheld it as constitutional again in the 1970s. The passage analyzes key Supreme Court cases like Roberts v. Louisiana and Furman v. Georgia that debated the constitutionality of the death penalty. It also discusses how the Supreme Court and Congress have expanded the crimes eligible for the death penalty over time.