Developing Supreme Court will hear challenge to Oklahoma execution drug
Source: LA Times
Developing Supreme Court will hear challenge to Oklahoma execution drug
By David G. Savage
January 23, 2015, 2:41 PM|Reporting from Washington
A week after the Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote cleared the way for an Oklahoma man to be executed using a controversial drug, the justices agreed to hear a legal challenge that the drug amounts to cruel and unusual punishment
The sudden turnaround -- marking the first time since 2008 that justices have intervened in the issue of execution by lethal injection -- apparently reflects not a change of heart, but the narrow conservative-versus-liberal divide on the high court.
It takes only four of the nine justices to agree to hear a legal claim, but a majority of five is needed to issue a ruling, including stopping a pending execution.
As a result, it appears that the liberal justices voted to hear the case, even though conservatives seem firm in their position that the drug is legal and may ultimately have the votes to uphold its use.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-supreme-court-challenge-execution-drugs-20150123-story.html
