I am working on the Eighth Amendment and came across AntoninScalia’s reference in
Stanford v. Kentucky that “The
punishment is either ‘cruel _and_ unusual’ (i.e., society has set
its face against it) or it has not.”I know that “set its face against it” is a biblical
reference, but was wondering about the first usage of it in Eighth Amendment or
death penalty cases.Does anyone
know how this phrase got taken up into usage?