Orlando Hall Executed

Update: This has been flagged, so good to cite this on top -- the Supreme Court has updated its circuit assignments as necessary with RBG (second circuit) dying.  Sotomayor took RBG's circuit, leaving open her previous circuits to others and so on.  Barrett got her old circuit. Sotomayor's old circuits might gave her more criminal cases to flag but it's nice she's my circuit justice. 

Also, there were a few other orders, including granting two criminal cases and accepting the House's request to remove the Mueller Report redaction case since they hope Biden will be sane about it. So, guess the next order list will be dull? [Yes.]

Someone flagged an article (attn: Breyer and Sotomayor, the first who includes discussions of the extended times it take to litigate as a major concern and the second in particular who voiced support of litigation to protect due process, including versus claims of abuse from other justices)  he wrote arguing defendants themselves aren't really to blame for back-ending litigation ("There is a widely held belief that, in order to delay executions, American death-row prisoners strategically defer litigation until the eleventh hour.")

Timely, because as the focus was on the post-election b.s., we had another federal execution. Number eight this year.  This is rather notable that since the death penalty's constitutionality was affirmed by the Supreme Court in the mid-1970s (marking the modern era of executions), three federal executions occurred. Three.  Many more were sentenced to death, especially after more grounds were added by federal statute, but through years of some rather conservative presidents (including the Sessions Justice Department), only three were executed. Timothy McVeigh, someone involved in a drug kingpin type crime and some heinous rape/murder involving the military.  That is it.   

The executions are not even for the whole year -- the eight executions, including one late last night (reports of the Supreme Court ruling, without opinions, came out around 11 p.m., which has not been too atypical this year -- multiple after eight p.m. announcements)  came July on.  In the last year of the Trump Administration, the Biden Administration not likely to execute anyone soon.  Been over a hundred years that an execution was performed in a lame duck period (two more are scheduled if one currently on hold; talk of possibly more to be scheduled) too.   

A sound judicial process, even if you think each one of these executions are well warranted with talk about their heinous crimes (see, e.g., the analysis of Orlando Hall, which includes his crimes), would carefully address the issues before authorizing such a influx of executions.  (And, I would not concede each of these are "worst of the worst" though some very well are reasonably so labeled. The upcoming execution of a woman, e.g., seems to involve a mentally ill person.  Others problem cases can be cited.)  If they deemed it necessary, the Supreme Court could have accelerated the process, normal litigation speed perhaps running out the clock to 2021.  I guess they only do that for Trump financials. 

The litigation as usual had a range of issues but there have also been three general concerns. First, the continuing concern that the lethal injection protocol is not secure enough to avoid unconstitutional pain and suffering. Second, specific federal statutory rules the appropriate application of which has split lower court judges so far in various ways.  Third, COVID related concerns regarding both lawyers and people who want to observe the execution.  The one odd case the Supreme Court held up involved a state dispute involving applying rules allowing religious figures in the execution chamber.  

The liberals, at times not all dissenting on the record, continually flagged problems down to last night when all three (notable when Kagan dissents from orders) did so, if without opinion.  This includes in the first wave in July when there was a concern for rushing things along, the lower courts merely asking for accelerated review.  The Supreme Court, again without comment, overruled the lower court stay last night.  Supreme Court Blog summarizes the multiple issues involved.  Better if the Supreme Court did so and explained why all the appeals for federal execution -- the federal government a specific appropriate concern for them -- should be rejected.  

With hundreds of thousands of people dying from COVID and all the rest from Trump, the execution of eight heinous criminals can surely be lost in the field of things. But, this is outrageous, including the Supreme Court (Amy "let me write an article about how Catholic judges can have difficulty with the death penalty" Coney Barrett included) rushing things along, often without comment. I am annoyed that the liberal justices did not discuss their dissent -- and non-dissent on certain matters -- but at least they have consistently flagged the problems from Sotomayor and RBG back in June or whatever wanting to hear a case on the federal statutory rules for executions.  

Two more (though if the ONE case blocked is the one woman, a woman with clear mental health issues, the reason it is being held "based on the denial of meaningful access to clemency and the abandonment by counsel resulting from counsel’s contracting COVID-19," it would not surprise me) ... so far ... left.  Will they execute any in January?  (Yes. Two so far.)