The Supreme Court will consider whether an execution will cause needless suffering

AMERICA has executed just nine people so far this year. That figure tracks a sharp decline in the use of capital punishment since 1999, when a record 98 inmates were put to death. But the Supreme Court is still called upon to weigh in on eleventh-hour appeals and other death-sentence challenges. On April 30th, the justices agreed to hear the case of Russell Bucklew, a Missouri inmate whose rare medical condition, cavernous hemangioma, could make his planned lethal injection a torturous experience in violation of the Eighth Amendment’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishments”. 

The justices put a hold on Mr Bucklew’s execution on March 20th, but it was a close call. Four justices—Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and John Roberts, the chief—would have let the lethal injection go forward, while the four liberal-leaning justices and Justice Anthony Kennedy blocked it for the time being. That suggests the court will be similarly split in the autumn when they take up Bucklew v Precythe. No matter...Continue reading

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