Ralph Baze and Thomas C. Bowling v. John D. Rees, Commissioner, Kentucky Department of Corrections, et al (553 U.S. 35)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 16, 2008 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 553 U.S. 35 · 128 S. Ct. 1520
- Decided
- April 16, 2008
- Term
- October Term 2007
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Roberts
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Chief Justice Roberts announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion, in which Justice Kennedy and Justice Alito join. Like 35 other States and the Federal Government, Kentucky has chosen to impose capital punishment for certain crimes. As is true with respect to each of these States and the Federal Government, Kentucky has altered its method of execution over time to more humane means of carrying out the sentence. That progress has led to the use of lethal injection by every jurisdiction that imposes the death penalty. Petitioners in this case — each convicted of double homicide — acknowledge that the lethal injection procedure, if applied as intended, will result in a humane death. They nevertheless contend that the lethal injection protocol is unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishments,” because of the risk that the protocol’s terms might not be properly followed, resulting in significant pain. They propose an alternative protocol, one that they concede has not been adopted by any State and has never been tried. The trial court held extensive hearings and entered detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law. It recognized that “[tjhere are no methods of legal execution that are satisfactory to those who oppose the death penalty on moral, religious, or societal grounds,” but concluded that Kentucky’s procedure…
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