A big case was argued this week before the United States Supreme Court. You’ve probably been following it, right? Okay, most Americans are following the same-sex marriage case, Obergefell v. Hodges. But many of us with an interest in criminal law are also following Glossip v. Gross, a case about the constitutionality of the lethal injection protocol used in Oklahoma. SCOTUSblog’s coverage of the argument is here. Things apparently got testy. During the argument, some of the Court’s conservative Justices questioned whether the “abolitionist movement” was waging “what amounts to a guerrilla war [of unending litigation] against the death penalty,” while one of the liberal Justices suggested that lethal injection could involve “the feeling of being burned alive.” In a related item, the News and Observer reports here that the General Assembly is considering a bill “that its sponsor says could revive executions of death row inmates in North Carolina.” The bill is HB 774; it has passed the House and has moved to the Senate. My understanding is that the ongoing litigation over the now-repealed Racial Justice Act and state and federal litigation over the state’s lethal injection protocol would continue to stand in the way of immediate executions even if the bill were to pass, but I may not be completely up to date. In other news: Violent crime up in Charlotte. The Charlotte Observer reports here that “[o]verall, violent crimes in the year’s first quarter are 21 percent higher than the same period in 2014. Nearly every category [...]
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