SCOTUS Vacates Stay: Federal Government Carries Out Death Penalty

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.

The high court’s action came after the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied a stay pending appeal, instead setting the case for briefing and oral argument on an accelerated schedule.

The Supreme Court issued a brief per curiam opinion, i.e., an opinion issued in the name of the Court without a designated authoring Justice. This form is commonly used for brief opinions issued on applications such as this one. The opinion noted that the single-drug method with pentobarbital is well-established as the preferred method. Inmates facing execution by other methods routinely cite it as their preferred alternative. The plaintiffs in this case managed to find expert witnesses willing to declare under penalty of perjury that pentobarbital creates a danger of great pain despite its long-established record in euthanasia of animals, in humans where assisted suicide is legal, and in executions by states than can obtain it for that use. The Court majority would have none of it.

Justice in these cases is long overdue. We are very fortunate to have an Attorney General who is both able and willing to carry it out.