Jul 25, 2019

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced its intent to adopt a new fed­er­al exe­cu­tion pro­to­col using a sin­gle exe­cu­tion drug and has issued death war­rants set­ting exe­cu­tion dates for five fed­er­al death-row pris­on­ers. In a 

Jul 05, 2019

A Kentucky tri­al court has issued an order declar­ing the Commonwealth’s exe­cu­tion pro­to­col uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. It was …

Jun 25, 2019

The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the unseal­ing of court doc­u­ments relat­ed to Alabama’s May 31, 2019 exe­cu­tion of 

Jun 17, 2019

Citing ​“egre­gious” mis­con­duct by state prison offi­cials in try­ing to evade a court order to pro­duce pub­lic records con­cern­ing its efforts to obtain lethal-injec­tion drugs, an Indiana judge has direct­ed the state’s Department of Co…

May 16, 2019

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued an advi­so­ry mem­o­ran­dum declar­ing that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ​“lacks juris­dic­tion” to reg­u­late exe­cu­tion drugs, includ­ing enforc­ing fed­er­al laws that …

May 08, 2019

A two-week fed­er­al tri­al on the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of Arkansas’s lethal-injec­tion pro­to­col came to a close May 2, 2019, as the par­ties pre­sent­ed legal argu­ments to the court after eight days of tes­ti­mo­ny. U.S. District Judge Kristi…

May 07, 2019

Sometimes you need a joke about a cute but very angry desert rain frog to pre­pare an unsus­pect­ing audi­ence for a seri­ous dis­cus­sion of lethal-injec­tion exe­cu­tions in the United States. That was the approach under­tak­en by Last Week Tonight…

Apr 19, 2019

Three south­ern states have tak­en action to lim­it the public’s access to infor­ma­tion relat­ing to exe­cu­tions by increas­ing secre­cy sur­round­ing lethal-injec­tion drug sup­pli­ers. On April 12, 2019, the Texas Supreme Court reversed an e…

Apr 15, 2019

In a con­tentious rul­ing issued in the ear­ly morn­ing hours of April 12, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court vacat­ed a stay of exe­cu­tion issued by low­er fed­er­al cou…

Apr 02, 2019

In a divi­sive 5 – 4 deci­sion that exposed ran­cor and deep rifts among the jus­tices, the U.S. Supreme Court has giv­en Missouri the go-ahead to exe­cute a pris­on­er whose blood-filled tumors in his head, neck, and mouth…