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• Texas Steps Up Executions to Clear Logjam

  Oct 24, 08 2:25 PM CDT
  A dozen condemned inmates in Texas's "death watch" cells are being executed at a scheduled rate of two a week through November. The executions relieve a logjam created when the US Supreme Court effectively halted lethal injections while deciding whether the method was unconstitutionally inhumane. It ruled the method constitutional, and executions resumed.
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• Justices Deny 11 Capital Appeals

  Apr 21, 08 2:49 PM CDT
  The Supreme Court today dismissed appeals from 11 death-row prisoners in seven states, including three who received last-minute stays of execution last year; the result was no surprise 1 week after the landmark ruling upholding lethal injection in Kentucky, the New York Times reports. The earlier opinion held that the execution method does not amount to cruel and unusual punishment. More »

• Lethal Injection Ruling Will Spur Executions, Lawsuits

  Apr 17, 08 10:42 CDT
  Executions will resume in the United States, thanks to the Supreme Court’s ruling on lethal injection yesterday, but so will lawsuits, the New York Times reports. By condoning methods “substantially similar” to Kentucky’s, the court has invited more challenges. “We have left the states with nothing resembling a bright-line rule,” said Clarence Thomas. “Today’s decision is sure to engender more litigation.” More »

• Supreme Court Upholds Kentucky Lethal Injection

  Apr 16, 08 10:01 CDT
  By a vote of 7-2, the Supreme Court upheld today the use of lethal injection by a three-drug cocktail. Two death row inmates in Kentucky had charged that the method violated their Eighth Amendment right to be spared cruel and unusual punishment. The mix of drugs has been used in most US executions over the past three decades, Reuters reports. More »

• Court Skeptical of Challenge to Lethal Injection

  Jan 7, 08 2:49 PM CST
  As the Supreme Court opened its hearing on lethal injection today, justices expressed serious doubts that the method amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, the LA Times reports. Most of the panel, including Chief Justice John Roberts, seemed unconvinced that the three-chemical cocktail results in a painful death, or that a better option exists. A national moratorium is in place while the high court weighs the issue. More »