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Today in Supreme Court History: July 14

  • 8 hours ago
  • 1 min read

Barr v. Lee, 140 S.Ct. 2590 (decided July 14, 2020): stay of execution (actually denial of preliminary injunction) denied to death row inmates because their claim that execution by pentobarbital sodium injection was “cruel and unusual” was unlikely to command four votes for certiorari (the per curiam opinion points out the surprising [at least to me] fact that the Court has never found a method of execution to be cruel and unusual); Ginsburg and Breyer dissent on the basis that the death penalty is unconstitutional, Sotomayor because this issue should not be decided via a hasty stay application (the lead petitioner, Daniel Lewis Lee, was executed next day, first federal execution in 17 years)

 
 
 

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New York Times Co. v. Jascalevich, 439 U.S. 1304 (decided July 12, 1978): Marshall denies stay pending cert. application as to New Jersey subpoena requiring reporter Myron Ferber to hand over document

 
 
 
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Organized Village of Kake v. Egan, 80 S.Ct. 33 (decided July 11, 1959): Brennan grants restraining order preventing Alaska from enforcing statute criminalizing fish traps against Native American tribe

 
 
 

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