Did the Supreme Court’s work in Baze matter at all?
The DPIC has this recent item discussing the details of the 20 executions in months since the Supreme Court “resolved” the constitutionality of lethal injection protocols through its decision in Baze v. Rees. When I look at the data, I find it remarkable not only that we have returned to four or five executions each month all in traditional death penalty states, but also that we have not seen any post-Baze increase in executions even though the Baze case led to a halt of all executions for over six months.
It seems that, even when the Supreme Court stirs up the pot, the modern dynamics and pacing of execution realities are hard to disrupt significantly.
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