Divided Supreme Court says execution can proceed -- but the death warrant had already expired

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

Courts & Law
Divided Supreme Court says execution can proceed -- but the death warrant had already expired

By Robert Barnes
April 12 at 5:12 PM

Conservative justices on the Supreme Court overruled lower courts in a middle-of-the-night order and said an Alabama execution could proceed, over the objections of their liberal colleagues who wanted to discuss the case Friday morning. ... The order came too late for the state to carry out the execution of Christopher Lee Price, and Alabama will have to ask a state court to set another execution date.

But the 5-to-4 ruling (1) at the Supreme Court indicated that the court's new conservative majority is far less likely to agree to last-minute stay requests from those facing execution. It also emphasized the stark divide between conservative and liberal justices on capital punishment and the most humane way to carry it out.

[Divided Supreme Court rules against inmate with rare condition] (2)

"What is at stake in this case is the right of a condemned inmate not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment," wrote Justice Stephen G. Breyer, objecting to the majority's decision. ... He added: "To proceed in this matter in the middle of the night without giving all members of the court the opportunity for discussion tomorrow morning is, I believe, unfortunate."
....

Breyer’s dissent revealed the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that accompanies execution stay requests. ... “Should anyone doubt that death sentences in the United States can be carried out in an arbitrary way, let that person review the following circumstances as they have been presented to our court this evening,” Breyer wrote.
....

Mark Berman contributed to this report.

Robert Barnes has been a Washington Post reporter and editor since 1987. He joined The Post to cover Maryland politics, and he has served in various editing positions, including metropolitan editor and national political editor. He has covered the Supreme Court since November 2006. Follow https://twitter.com/scotusreporter

(1) https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/18a1053_omjp.pdf

(2) https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/divided-supreme-court-rules-against-death-row-inmate-with-rare-condition/2019/04/01/ff523fdc-5489-11e9-8ef3-fbd41a2ce4d5_story.html

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/divided-supreme-court-says-execution-can-proceed--but-the-death-warrant-had-already-expired/2019/04/12/01b17484-5d16-11e9-a00e-050dc7b82693_story.html

[erronis]

1. Breyer: "To proceed in this matter in the middle of the night without giving all members

of the court the opportunity for discussion tomorrow morning is, I believe, unfortunate."

It is chilling that any court, especially the Supreme Court of the US, can try to operate under the cloak of darkness.

Have the majority of the SCOTUS lost all sense of humanity? Or is it just expediency?

Or worse, political expediency?