Category: U.S. Supreme Court

Number three in USDOJ’s murderers row, Dustin Honken, is set for execution today. Honken was a drug trafficker who murdered a dealer turned informant. He also murdered three other people in the household–a mother and her two children aged 10 and 6. He later murdered a fifth person.

Early this morning, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied a stay pending appeal of Honken’s claim under the Administrative Procedure Act. See this post from Wednesday for a brief description of that claim and the District Judge’s rejection of it.

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AP reports:

Wesley Ira Purkey was put to death at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. Purkey had been convicted of kidnapping and killing a 16-year-old girl, Jennifer Long, before dismembering, burning and dumping her body in a septic pond. He also was convicted in a state court in Kansas after using a claw hammer to kill an 80-year-old woman who had polio.

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The Court’s order dissolving Judge Chutkan’s attempt once more to frustrate justice with infinite delay is here.   Kent correctly predicted several hours ago that Chutkan was “plow[ing] right into reversal number three.”

I’m not especially an optimist, but there may be reason to hope that the Supreme Court is starting to show long overdue impatience with what Justice Alito correctly called abolitionists’ “guerilla war against the death penalty.”  Endless last-minute stunts, newly discovered brain lesions, sudden devotion to religion  —  all the usual maneuvers out of the game-the-system playbook might have worn out their welcome.

And thank you to President Trump and Leader McConnell for Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh, both essential votes in the majority.  The Court’s four more liberal members again dissented.

At about 2 a.m. EDT today, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the last-minute stay issued by a D.C. District Judge, noted in this post. The execution was carried out this morning, Jess Bravin and Sadie Gurman report for the WSJ.

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The U.S. Supreme Court today turned down the federal execution protocol case, apparently on a 7-2 vote. The orders list is here. See page 6. See this post from June 18. The order notes, “Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor would grant the application and the petition for a writ of certiorari.”

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In the on-going litigation over the federal execution protocol, the U.S. Supreme Court today granted the murderers’ motion to fast-track the briefing on whether the high court should take the case up. The government did not oppose the motion.

The government’s response is due tomorrow, as are any amicus curiae briefs. The murderers’ reply is due Monday. That would allow the Court to consider the case at its conference next Thursday.

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The Supreme Court yesterday stayed the execution of Texas murderer Rubin Gutierrez. And what did the State of Texas do to warrant this last-minute interference with the execution of a very thoroughly reviewed judgment? They did exactly what Justice Kavanaugh said last year was a perfectly acceptable solution to the problem.

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