Death Is, Apparently, Not Harmful
The Supreme Court issued its opinion in Baze v. Rees today.1 Although there are several opinions (most of which I haven’t read) the lead opinion, written by Chief Justice Roberts for himself and Justices Alito and Kennedy finds, without a trace of irony, that the relevant standard for determining whether an execution method is constitutional or not is whether there is a “substantial risk of serious harm.” Hence the title of this post.
- That’s the case the challenged constitutionality of the lethal injection protocol used by nearly all the states that currently have the death penalty. [↩]
