The U.S. Supreme Court case of John Henry Selvage v. James A. Collins, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division in 1989 revolved around the issue of whether a death row inmate could be executed if he was mentally incompetent at the time of his execution. Selvage had been convicted and sentenced to death for murder but later developed mental health issues while on death row which raised questions about his competency to be executed under law. The court ruled that executing a prisoner who is not aware or does not understand why they are being put to death violates their Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment.

In the dissenting opinion for Selvage v. Collins, Justice Marshall argued that the Court should have granted certiorari to address whether a state court's failure to instruct a jury on the presumption of innocence and reasonable doubt violated due process. He pointed out that these are fundamental principles in American law and their omission could lead to an unfair trial. The justice also expressed concern about Texas' capital sentencing procedure, which he believed allowed juries too much discretion in determining who deserved death sentences without clear guidelines or standards. This lack of guidance, according to him, increased the risk of arbitrary and capricious sentencing decisions based on racial bias or other improper factors rather than objective evidence related to guilt or culpability.