SCOTUS Okays First Federal Executions In 17 Years

NBC News reports:

The Supreme Court early Tuesday ruled that the first federal executions in 17 years can be carried out. The justices ruled 5-4 hours after a U.S. District Judge preliminary blocked four inmates from being executed.

Daniel Lewis Lee was originally scheduled to receive a lethal dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital at 4 p.m. ET Monday, but a federal judge’s order prevented his execution.

Tuesday’s unsigned Supreme Court majority opinion says that “the plaintiffs have not established that they are likely to succeed on the merits of their Eighth Amendment claim” and “that claim faces an exceedingly high bar.” All four executions are to take place at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court clears the way for executions of federal prisoners.

— The Associated Press (@AP) July 14, 2020