cruel and unusual punishment

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Lethal Injection Ruling Will Spur Executions, Lawsuits

Pro-death states will waste no time; lawsuits likely in others

(Newser) - 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...

Supreme Court Upholds Kentucky Lethal Injection

Ruling clears way for other states to resume capital punishment

(Newser) - 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...

Transgender Con Upset Over Fading Femininity

Killer suing for surgery wants more treatment

(Newser) - A prisoner who has sued for a sex-change operation has complained that treatments to feminize her body have stopped, the AP reports. “My breasts have shrunk, genitals have regained previous size, facial hair is thicker,” Michelle Kosilek, formerly Robert, wrote in a letter to the court considering the...

Court Skeptical of Challenge to Lethal Injection

Justices cite low chance of painful death, lack of better option

(Newser) - 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...

Death Penalty Details Withheld
Death Penalty Details Withheld
Jan 7, 2008 8:56 AM CST

Death Penalty Details Withheld

As high court weighs lethal injection, actual methods are shrouded in secrecy

(Newser) - With a landmark case coming before the Supreme Court today on lethal injection, the Los Angeles Times examines the unusual secrecy that shrouds the execution method. Defense lawyers who argue that it inflicts unnecessary pain are routinely blocked from information about executioners and the drugs injected. States say such information...

States Drag Feet on 'Humane' Lethal Injections

Supreme Court ruling may

(Newser) - With the Supreme Court scrutinizing whether lethal injections constitute "cruel and unusual punishment," the New York Times wonders why none of the 38 states who use it have taken a simple step that could solve the problem: trade the three-drug sequence that's said to risk intense pain for...

Supreme Court Returns for a Big Session

Right-moving bench will rule on lethal injection, Gitmo prisoner rights

(Newser) - The Supreme Court enters its second session with Bush appointees John Roberts and Samuel Alito tomorrow, which means it will likely resume last session’s rightward slant, Reuters says. Before the court will be big cases on Guantanamo inmates’ right to habeas corpus, the legality of the lethal injection death...

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