Supreme Court Will Consider Lethal Injection and Voter ID

It's shaping up to be another important term at the Supreme Court (then again, don't we say that every year?). In addition to the Guantanamo detainee cases that we knew were coming, the Supreme Court announced this morning that it would be hearing cases on the constitutionality of lethal injection and voter ID laws once their October 2007 term begins.

The lethal injection case comes out of Kentucky, where two death row inmates are claiming that the procedure amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. This will be the first time the Supreme Court has had to face the particular issue of cruel and unusual punishment in quite some time. (I wrote about the Court's historical difficulty defining the phrase here.)

The voter ID case comes from Indiana, where an appeals court has already upheld the requirement that voters present government-issued photo ID at the polling place. The decision is expected to be out in June, with plenty of time to spare before the election.

Indiana officials (who had already won in the lower courts) weren't thrilled about the appeal and forecast trouble:

State Solicitor General Thomas Fisher said granting Supreme Court review of the issue now would likely prompt a spate of lawsuits across the nation that would disrupt the 2008 presidential primaries and create new uncertainty over the validity of all voter identification requirements.

He said the justices should wait for another case after the 2008 elections.

Yeah, but "justice delayed" and all that. Besides, I'd like to see these issues nailed down.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 12:31 PM

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