Reply #88: The Ist Amendment is categorical, as is the ban on cruel and unusual punishment. [View All]

[Hosnon]

But it is not in any way exceptional to see limits on Ist Amendment rights. Most constitutional principles undergo a balancing test, with the "importance" of the right (e.g., high, medium, low) determining how necessary the abridgment must be to be constitutional.

I don't know (but would guess) that the ban on cruel and unusual punishment works much the same way. That is, in extremis, cruel and unusual punishment may not be unconstitutional.