LEThal INjEcTION
WaShINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments this week on whether a drug used in Oklahoma’s lethal injection mix should be banned in a case that comes as a shortage of execution chemicals has sent some states scrambling for alternatives.
The main question before the nine justices in the case brought by three death row inmates that will be heard on Wednesday is whether the use of the sedative midazolam violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
The case does not address the constitutionality of the penalty in general, but brings fresh attention to the debate over whether executions should continue in the United States.
REUTERS
He has demonstrated apprehension about the reputation of the court that, by virtue of his service as chief justice, informally bears his name.
In his opinions, he has sometimes tried to lower tensions in controversial cases and reassure people that the court is aligning with precedent and public expectations.
The question is not only how Roberts might vote but what he might write.
In the 2013 ruling, he denounced the court majority’s sentiment that federal lawmakers were deliberately harming gay people with the limited definition of marriage. “I would not tar the political branches with the brush of bigotry,” he wrote.
For the other seven justices, expectations are clearer.
The four liberals, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, have signaled their opposition to state same-sex marriage bans. On the other side have been the three most conservative justices, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, asserting that nothing in the Constitution guarantees same-sex marriage.
Two legal questions are before the justices: whether the Constitution’s guarantees of due process and equal protection cover a right to same-sex marriage; and, if they do not, whether states that ban same-sex marriages must recognize such unions performed in other states.
Gay couples and their families, about 30 adults and 20 children, have appealed the 6th Circuit’s decision.