For these reasons, Scalia argued that the proportionality test from "Solem" should be overruled. "Solem" had held that a particular punishment was unconstitutionally disproportional if (1) the crime was relatively minor in comparison to the punishment, (2) the sentence imposed in the jurisdiction for similarly grave offenses was less, and (3) other jurisdictions impose a lesser sentence for the same crime. Scalia argued that (1) it was difficult to assess the gravity of a particular crime, and thus (2) it would be difficult to determine whether similarly grave crimes carried a lesser sentence. As for whether other jurisdictions imposed a lesser sentence for the same crime, Scalia conceded that it is easy to figure this out, but that this inquiry has "no conceivable relevance to the Eighth Amendment." If a mode of punishment was "unusual" because it was infrequently imposed, the three factors of the "Solem" test hardly mattered to Scalia. In a federal system, moreover, some state will always have the distinction of imposing the harshest punishment for a particular crime. "The Eighth Amendment is not a ratchet, whereby a temporary consensus on leniency for a particular crime fixes a permanent constitutional maximum, disabling the States from giving effect to altered beliefs and responding to changed social conditions." Because the proportionality requirement was of recent vintage, "issued 185 years after the Eighth Amendment was adopted," and then only in capital cases, Scalia reasoned it should be abandoned entirely, or at least limited only to capital cases.