In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled today that the US Constitution does not guarantee inmates subject to capital punishment a painless death.
Referencing the history of capital punishment, [Justice Neil] Gorsuch wrote that “the Eighth Amendment does not guarantee a prisoner a painless death – something that, of course, isn’t guaranteed to many people, including most victims of capital crimes.
The death penalty itself was not on trial. The question was whether a convict who had accepted their sentence could require a form of execution that was potentially less painful given a medical condition.
Russell Bucklew, 50, had argued that lethal injection might inflict undue agony by rupturing blood-filled tumors on his body caused by a congenital condition called cavernous hemangioma in violation of the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which bars cruel and unusual punishment.
Justice Gorsuch noted that there was no evidence presented to suggest that lethal gas would have been more or less painful than lethal injection.
If Bucklew fails to add any more years to his time on death row, he’s been filing lawsuits for two decades according to the report, his comfort will not be an issue. It certainly was not a concern for the man he murdered or the woman he raped.
Side Note: Reuters deliberately refers to Justice Kavanaugh as ‘Trump appointee Brett Kavanaugh’ as if he was never confirmed.
