SCOTUS lets executions resume

SCOTUS Blog lets us know that the US Supreme Court approved current lethal injections methods, allowing more executions to go forward, although "there was no opinion that spoke for five or more Justices." Because of the de facto moratorium waiting for the resolution of Baze, there are no executions currently scheduled in Texas, but I'd expect judges to begin lining them up soon. TDCJ keep an updated list of scheduled executions here, where that information will become available as judges begin to re-set pending death sentences.

Because of the Baze moratorium, I'd predicted at the beginning of the year that Texas would witness more exonerations of innocent people this year than it would executed death sentences. We'll soon see if that'll be the case. Another exoneree will walk out of court today proven innocent after more than 20 years, so we've definitely not seen the last exoneration. But I won't be surprised to see Texas judges playing catch up pretty fast on the capital punishment side.

See additional lethal injection related coverage from both SCOTUS and the states at the Stand Down blog. ALSO: Doc Berman says the Baze opinions have a little something in them for everyone, and predicts the decision's real impact is a victory for federalism that won't be felt until states begin fleshing out their individual interpretations