Jackson dissents in denial of Louisiana man’s death-row evidence plea

Jackson dissents in denial of Louisiana man’s death-row evidence plea

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Over a dissent from the court’s three liberal justices, the Supreme Court turned down a request from a Louisiana man on death-row to weigh in on when someone else’s confession is the kind of evidence that the Constitution requires prosecutors to turn over. The court’s denial of review in Brown v. Louisiana came at the end of a list of orders from the justices’ private conference last week.

The justices did not add any new cases to their docket … Read the rest

Justices will clarify how death-row prisoners can contest a state’s method of execution

Justices will clarify how death-row prisoners can contest a state’s method of execution

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The Supreme Court doesn’t care all that much for method-of-execution challenges. It particularly disfavors Eighth Amendment litigation attacking familiar lethal injection protocols as “cruel and unusual” punishment. In the past 20 years, the court has announced substantive constitutional law, pleading requirements, and timeliness rules that make it harder to win such arguments. Nance v. Ward (to be argued on Monday) is about the procedural vehicle that prisoners must use to challenge execution methods. The case is important because Georgia’s … Read the rest