Podcast: Capital punishment returns to the Supreme Court
In late April, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in its first capital punishment case since 2008: Glossip v. Gross, and how the Justices rule could affect the future of the death penalty in states that stull use it.
Kreitzberg and Rivkin
The history of capital punishment is a long one, but our story picks up in 1976, when the Supreme Court restored use of the death penalty after a brief hiatus in a case called Gregg v. Georgia. In a 7-2 decision, the Court said that executions are not always “cruel and unusual punishments” under the Eighth Amendment, and that states could execute prisoners if done so carefully and judiciously.
Just one year later, Oklahoma became the first state to adopt lethal injection as a method of execution. Its three-drug formula consists of a sedative to put the prisoner in a coma-like state so he doesn’t feel any pain; a paralytic to prevent all movement and to stop breathing by paralyzing the diaphragm; and a drug to induce a heart attack. The sedative is crucial to ensure the execution is not “cruel and unusual.”
Nearly 40 years after Oklahoma’s innovation, the formula remains largely intact, but the specific drugs have changed—possibly changing the constitutional calculus.
Joining us to discuss this important case are two leading scholars and advocates.
David B. Rivkin Jr. is a partner at BakerHostetler. He is also a member of the firm’s litigation, international, and environmental teams and co-leader of the firm’s national Appellate Practice.
Ellen Kreitzberg is professor of law at Santa Clara University. She also created and directs the Death Penalty College, a residential training program held each August at Santa Clara to train lawyers assigned to the defense of a capital case.
To listen to our full podcast, use the player below or click on the following link: Download this episode (right click and save)
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