Interesting final phrase in Justice Breyer’s latest pitch for SCOTUS to consider whether whether capital punishment is now unconstitutional

Via a dissent in Glossip v. Gross back in 2015, Justice Breyer explained at great length why he thought “it is now time to reopen the question” of “whether the death penalty violates the Constitution.”  Since that time, Justice Breyer has made a fairly regular habit of dissenting or commenting on the denial of certiorari in capital cases with administrative problems along the lines he stressed in his Glossip dissent.  Today’s SCOTUS order list includes another such statement by Justice Breyer in Smith v. Ryan, a case that involves a prisoner who has been on death row in Arizona for more than 40 years.  Here is a paragraph from the heart of Justice Breyer’s statement that captures the essence of many of his capital statements since Glossip:

What legitimate purpose does it serve to hold any human being in solitary confinement for 40 years awaiting execution?  What does this case tell us about a capital punishment system that, in my view, works in random, virtually arbitrary ways?  I have previously explored these matters more systematically, coming to the conclusion that this Court should hear argument as to whether capital punishment as currently practiced is consistent with the Constitution’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishment.”  Amdt. 8. See Glossip v. Gross, 576 U. S. ___, ___ (2015) (BREYER, J., dissenting).  The facts and circumstances of Smith’s case reinforce that conclusion.

Because statements by Justice Breyer like this one have become fairly common, I would not have blogged about this latest effort save for one little phrase in Justice Breyer’s final sentence that struck me as new and unusual.  Here is the final sentence with my emphasis added on the phrase that caught my attention:

Smith’s confinement reinforces the need for this Court, or other courts, to consider in an appropriate case the underlying constitutional question.

I took a quick look at some other capital case statements from this Term by Justice Breyer and did not see this “other courts” phrase anywhere in his prior calls for the Supreme Court to take up the constitutionality of capital punishment.  I suspect that Justice Breyer has now come fully to realize, perhaps due in part to the new addition of Justice Gorsuch, that he is not going to be able to cajole his colleagues into taking up the constitutionality of capital punishment on their own and now the issue will likely get before SCOTUS only if a lower court takes up the issue in a bold, high-profile way.

I suspect I am reading way too much into three words in a little single Justice statement concerning the denial of cert.  Still, especially with talk of a new SCOTUS vacancy this summer, I do not think I am wrong to view the next few months and years as a potential turning point in the history of capital punishment in the US.  Justice Breyer has demonstrated his interest in playing a central role in defining the future of the death penalty, and this latest little statement perhaps reflects a realization that his window of opportunity to do so may be closing.