Why the Supreme Court Is Acting on Lethal Injection and What That Could Mean for the Death Penalty
The Supreme Court’s announcement Friday that it would consider lethal injection, potentially reshaping the way executions are carried out in the United States, comes just a week after the justices declined to stop an execution in Oklahoma. But it also comes after several erratic years of executions around the country, as states have changed their protocols again and again, scrambled to obtain the necessary drugs and faced criticism for effectively experimenting with capital punishment.
And, pivotally, the Supreme Court’s action comes after a year with three high-profile, problematic executions. All three executions drew an unusually large amount of attention to the problems facing lethal injection in this country, and all three executions involved the sedative midazolam.
The justices said they would take up a case presented by three inmates currently scheduled to be executed by Oklahoma over the next six weeks, with the first of these executions planned for next Thursday. The petition had originally been put forward by four inmates, rather than three, but Charles Warner, the fourth inmate, was put to death in Oklahoma last week.
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