The Supreme Court has held that death penalty opponents can be excluded from juries deciding guilt or innocence in cases in which capital punishment is a possible sentence if they are opposed to the death penalty under any circumstances.

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This is known as the "Witherspoon rule," established in the 1968 case Witherspoon v. Illinois. It allows for prospective jurors to be excluded if their opposition to the death penalty would prevent them from considering or imposing it as a possible sentence, but not if they are simply morally or religiously opposed to the death penalty under any circumstances.

The Supreme Court Has Held That Death Penalty Opponents Can