Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> tcask:: on the road (to abolition)

Criminal Law

: tcask:: on the road (to abolition)

Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Lethal Injection

By Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing

Today, the US Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments on whether or not the current protocols of lethal injection are in violation of the 8th amendment of the Constitution which bans cruel and unusual punishment. The Justices are not being asked to rule on the constitutionality of the death penalty which was determined constitutional three decades ago. A wave of cases revolving around lethal injection across the United States in lower courts has piqued the attention of the highest court in the land. One of the key rulings was here in Tennessee in which Judge Aleta Trauger ruled that the current lethal injection protocols were unconstitutional. However, it was a case in Kentucky, Baez v. Rees, that made its way to Washington D.C. Supporters of the Kentucky petitioners stated that the current method poses an "unnecessary risk of pain and suffering...continue to full post

Full post as published by tcask:: on the road (to abolition) on January 07, 2008 (boomark / email).