Sam Spital on 50 Years Since Gregg v. Georgia and Examining the Decision’s Legacy and Unfulfilled Promises

In the July 2026 episode of 12:01: The Death Penalty in Context, DPI’s Executive Director Robin M. Maher speaks with Samuel Spital, Associate Director Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF). To mark the 50^th anniver­sary of the Supreme Court’s deci­sion in Gregg v. Georgia, they explore the his­to­ry of the land­mark case, the piv­otal role played by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in the lit­i­ga­tion, and the endur­ing lega­cy of leg­endary LDF attor­ney Anthony Amsterdam. They con­clude their con­ver­sa­tion by look­ing back on the results of that 1976 decision.

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