<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Wikisource has original text related to this article: Furman v. Georgia </Td> </Tr> <P> Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972) was a criminal case in which the United States Supreme Court struck down all death penalty schemes in the United States in a 5--4 decision, with each member of the majority writing a separate opinion . Following Furman, in order to reinstate the death penalty, states had to at least remove arbitrary and discriminatory effects, to satisfy the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution . </P> <P> The decision ruled on the requirement for a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty . This case led to a de facto moratorium on capital punishment throughout the United States, which came to an end when Gregg v. Georgia was decided in 1976 to allow the death penalty . </P> <P> The Supreme Court consolidated Jackson v. Georgia and Branch v. Texas with the Furman decision, and thus also invalidated the death penalty for rape (this ruling was confirmed post-Gregg in Coker v. Georgia). The Court had also intended to include the case of Aikens v. California, but between the time Aikens had been heard in oral argument and a decision was to be issued, the Supreme Court of California decided in California v. Anderson that the death penalty violated the state constitution . The Aikens case was dismissed as moot since all death sentences in California were reduced to life imprisonment . </P>

In which case did the supreme court reinstate the death penalty