SCOTUS Watch: Execution Week

There will be a conference tomorrow and Order List related to it on Monday. I will (unless something really special happens) treat that separately next Monday. It is likely to be of limited note -- though late surprises are clearly possible -- and then SCOTUS will basically be done until after Thanksgiving.

This week's Order List was mostly no drama, but included a dissent from denial of cert. written by Thomas (with Alito and Gorsuch) that fits the overall theme of this entry. A lower federal court intervened in a capital case that Thomas believed was not in doubt enough to do so under the route sought. The others ""permits the nullification of its jurisprudence" (ha ha) by not error correcting. 

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A mild break from executions then took place and the Court (without comment) rejected an attempt to block the 1/6 Committee to get phone records from Arizona's GOP chair.  Thomas and Alito dissented without opinion.  Thomas could have dissented silently, especially since his own wife was involved in trying to get Arizona officials to overturn the results.  He doesn't give a shit about ethics or appearance thereof, apparently.

(Thomas was the among those the Federalist Society gave a "warm reception" to recently though the rest of the Dobbs majority were.)

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Okay, so there were four executions -- in four states -- scheduled two days this week.  It looked like the Supreme Court would simply, without comment, reject final appeals in each case.  There was a change in plans there, to some degree, regarding a second issue in the fourth case.

One

Murray Hooper (black) was convicted for his involvement in two murders back in 1982. Justice Breyer (as Stevens did earlier) discusses the problems with execution of someone decades after conviction here. John Bessler, husband of Senator Amy Klobuchar, published the dissent (with commentary) as a book. The matter warrants reminder.

Hooper's case involves a long tale, including structural racism among other things.  The two convicted for involvement with him died in prison.  He claimed innocence (fine), and his final appeal involved alleged evidence there.  Sister Helen Prejean tweeted that there was some problems executing him ("Arizona executed Murray Hooper this morning. Prison staff struggled to set the lethal injection IV lines. They eventually had to cut into Murray’s thigh and insert a catheter into his femoral artery.")

I have not gone into his case -- I doubt he is really innocent though; my concern is that before signing off on an execution, it would be nice if SCOTUS (or even one justice, maybe one of the liberals) briefly say why or why not this is the correct thing to do as a matter of law. Sometimes, there is not a good appellate case.  But, you still can explain.

Two

So, that's Arizona. Texas had Stephen Barbee, and his final appeal had to do with the correct procedures for his religious needs at execution.  But, Texas is normally smooth running in this department, there was ultimately problems executing him as well.  The people who are executed are not exactly in the best of shape in various cases, and that bit them this time. 

His crime -- murder of a girlfriend and her child -- involved something from 2005. As these things go, that is almost quick, but one article noted:

Early last year, the Texas court finally handed down a highly technical ruling concluding Barbee wasn’t eligible for a new trial because he didn’t tell his attorneys clearly enough that he wanted to maintain his innocence. 

Another case where even an execution that is not particularly outrageous (if you are against all executions, they all are; me? I'm against them,  but realize some are worse than others), but there is still a screw-up.  Such fine tuning when a person's life is involved is for me somewhat dubious.  

Three

Next comes Oklahoma, who is trying to play catch-up (over twenty in two years) after multiple botched executions.  

The recent ones reportedly went okay.  Try, try again, maybe?  I won't guaranteed that, but that's what the article says.  Anyway, Richard Fairchild (executed after almost 30 years) alleged competency problems.  Weak case?  Enough that at least one single fucking justice, including the liberals, might have said something.  

(The crime is a heinous case of some drunken guy, so it seems from the summary, getting upset at his girlfriend's toddler and horribly murdering him.  Okay.  So, thirty years in prison isn't enough, including vis-a-vis a range of other murders out there? We have numerous child abusers whose actions lead to death.  How many are executed?)  

Four

Kenneth  Smith, 57, was sentenced to death for the 1988 contract killing of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett in Colbert County, Alabama. The jury gave him life. The trial judge overruled them.  The Supreme Court rejected without comment a final lawsuit involving that yesterday. 

There is also the problem of Alabama not clarifying their specific execution protocol, including if problems arise. Note that problems arose twice this week alone.  And, Alabama botched their last execution, forcing them to postpone it.  The 11CA (a conservative leaning circuit) granted a stay.  This one lingered on (like last time in Alabama) into the night, the Supreme Court vacating the stay 6-3 (normal split) without comment.  

It is ridiculous that this lingered on that long. There should be a rule to cut off appeals within 24 hours or something of the execution. This "Bavarian Fire Drill" sort of thing, finally finishing (without explanation, in part given time restraints) ninety minutes (local time) before the warrant ran out. 

As people assumed Twitter was about to die (can I play me in the movie? Titanic II: The Twitter Meltdown?), I kept track of the execution via an account of a local reporter.  This is the charm (and addictive nature) of Twitter in a nutshell.  And, it turns out they didn't go thru with it again.

(The official statement seems to be that they AGAIN tried to execute someone and had problems with the procedure.  I know it was rushed and all, but should they really need more than 90m to do everything they need to do regarding final touches here?  Maybe, they should just stop trying to execute people.  I would say use another method, but figure with their abilities, they might screw that up too.)  

ETA: People have been like "Twitter is about done" for some time now since Elon "Chief Twit" Musk has gained control. It's still there. People talk about Mastodon, which I tried to join, but it's convoluted.  I doubt Twitter is DOA.

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Again, the Supreme Court will have a conference (Friday), and orders will be released on Monday.  The next scheduled action are oral arguments at the end of the month.  

ETA: Monday orders was a nothingburger.  This basically includes a separate order (which often would have dropped on Friday) granting one case. The case does have amusing facts.