Supreme Court to debate judge’s ruling on constitutionality of lethal injection

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider the constitutionality of lethal injections in a case that could affect the way inmates are executed around the country.\nThe high court will hear a challenge from two inmates on death row in Kentucky – Ralph Baze and Thomas Clyde Bowling Jr. – who sued Kentucky in 2004, claiming lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.\nBaze has been scheduled for execution Tuesday night, but the Kentucky Supreme Court halted the proceedings earlier this month.\nThe U.S. Supreme Court has previously made it easier for death row inmates to contest the lethal injections used across the country for executions.\nBut until Tuesday, the justices had never agreed to consider the fundamental question of whether the mix of drugs used in Kentucky and elsewhere violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.\nAll 37 states that perform lethal injections use the same three-drug cocktail, but at least 10 states suspended its use after opponents alleged it was ineffective and cruel, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.\nThe three consist of an anesthetic, a muscle paralyzer, and a substance to stop the heart. Death penalty foes have argued that if the condemned prisoner is not given enough anesthetic, he can suffer excruciating pain without being able to cry out.\nU.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger ruled last week that Tennessee’s method of lethal injection is unconstitutional and ordered the state not to execute a death row inmate using that method. The state is still deciding whether to appeal the judge’s ruling, but agreed to stop a pending execution.\nA ruling from California in the case of convicted killer Michael Morales resulted in the statewide suspension of executions.\nStates began using lethal injection in 1978 as an alternative to the historic methods of execution: electrocution, gassing, hanging and shooting. Since the death penalty resumed in 1977, 790 of 958 executions have been by injection.