US Supreme Court: Death Penalty Cases

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments on January 07, 2008 in Baze v. Rees on whether the three-drug lethal injection cocktail now used in over 30 states violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against 'cruel and unusual punishment’. The Supreme Court have granted certiorari in this case with decision in September 2007. Since the US Supreme Court accepted the Baze case in September, courts have stayed executions in eight US states.

The petitioner, Ralph Baze, was sentenced to death by lethal injection for admittedly killing two Kentucky police officers. His lawyers argue that the Eighth Amendment is implicated in his case because lethal injections can be carried out with other drugs that may pose less risk of pain and suffering. They consider that the first drug fails to make the subject fully unconscious, thereby making the subject suffer excruciating pain when the heart-stopping drug is injected. Justice Scalia indicated that he was in favor of allowing Baze's execution to proceed, saying that the Constitution did not require that the death penalty be "painless". Other justices, however, seemed in favor of blocking the method or allowing the lower courts to spend more time studying the specific lethal injection method.

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The US Supreme Court granted certiorari in some cases, in which the Supreme Court will consider whether a death sentence constitutes 'cruel and unusual punishment’ when imposed for a crime in which the victim was not killed. In the case Kennedy v. Louisiana, Patrick Kennedy was sentenced to death in Louisiana for raping a minor, one of the few remaining crimes where the death of a victim is not required for the death penalty.

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Certiorari ("to be searched") is a legal term in Roman, English and American law referring to a type of writ seeking judicial review. In the United States, certiorari is the writ that an appellate court issues to a lower court in order to review its judgment for legal error and review, where no appeal is available as a matter of right. A party who wants the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision of a federal or state court files a "petition for writ of certiorari". Four of the nine judges must vote to grant a writ of certiorari. This is called the "rule of four". The cases for issuing of a writ by the Supreme Court are known as certworthy. The great majority of cases brought to the Supreme Court are denied certiorari (7,500 petitions yearly – between 80 and 150 granted.

Sources: Jurist