[NeoCaveman]

The problem is that original intent is so often fuzzy. What did the founders intend about imprecise words in a changing nation, with new issues and problems, a nation that they well knew would change, although not nearly as drastically as it has?

The founding fathers took care of that, they gaveus the Ammendment process.

Cruel and unusal is really easy for me, just check the statues of what was allowed by the 13 states and check for any over rulings in the fist 50-100 years. OK, maybe that's a nod to stare decisis, but I'm lazy and stare decisis is for us lazy jurists.

[Torie]

Is cruel and usnusal what is deemed such in each generation, or fixed on stone by the morays of a snapshot in time? What did the founders intend? Nobody knows, frankly, and those who suggest otherwise, are dissembling.