In Greene v. Massey, the U.S Supreme Court dealt with a case involving a Florida prisoner who was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1973. The petitioner, Elwood H. Greene, argued that his constitutional rights were violated because he wasn't allowed an evidentiary hearing on his claim of racial discrimination in jury selection during his trial. He also claimed ineffective assistance of counsel due to their failure to object to the prosecutor's racially discriminatory use of peremptory challenges during jury selection. The District Court dismissed these claims without holding an evidentiary hearing while the Court of Appeals affirmed this decision stating that no such hearing was required as there were no factual issues raised by Greene’s allegations which could entitle him relief under federal law. However, upon reaching the Supreme Court it held that if proven true, both claims would constitute violations of constitutionally protected rights and thus remanded for further proceedings consistent with its opinion.

In the dissenting opinion for Greene v. Massey, Justice Brennan disagreed with the majority's decision to uphold Florida's death penalty statute despite its lack of a provision allowing defendants to present mitigating evidence during sentencing. He argued that this omission violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments' guarantees against cruel and unusual punishment and due process respectively. Brennan believed that any capital sentencing scheme must allow for individualized consideration of relevant factors about both offense and offender before imposing a death sentence, which he felt was not possible under Florida’s law as it stood at that time. Furthermore, he criticized the Court’s reliance on Proffitt v. Florida (1976) in reaching their decision because it did not address this specific issue regarding mitigating circumstances.