Baze v. Rees

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Baze v. Rees

Argued January 7, 2008
Decided April 16, 2008

Full case name:	Ralph Baze and Thomas C. Bowling v. John D. Rees
Docket #:	07-5439

Citations:	U.S. ; 2008 WL 1733259

Prior history:	Writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of Kentucky

Argument:	Link to Oral Argument

Holding

Lethal injection is constitutional under the Eighth Amendment.

Court membership

Chief Justice: John Glover Roberts, Jr.
Associate Justices: John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito

Case opinions

Plurality by: Roberts
Joined by: Kennedy and Alito
Concurrence by: Alito
Concurrence by: Stevens
Concurrence by: Scalia
Joined by: Thomas
Concurrence by: Breyer
Dissent by: Ginsburg
Joined by: Souter

Laws applied

U.S. Const. amends. VIII

Baze v. Rees, Docket no. 07-5439, is a United States Supreme Court case. The court agreed to hear the appeal of two men, Ralph Baze and Thomas Bowling, who were sentenced to death in Kentucky. The men argue that executing them by lethal injection would violate the 8th Amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. Under court precedent, lethal injection must not inflict "unnecessary pain". The men's attorneys argue that the chemicals used to kill them carried an unnecessary risk of inflicting pain during the process. The specific "cocktail" used for lethal injections in Kentucky is the same virtually all states that use lethal injection, so this case has nationwide implications. An effective moratorium on executions in the United States has taken place since certiorari was granted in this case. ^[1]

The Court heard oral arguments on January 7, 2008. On April 16, the Court rejected the challenge thereby upholding Kentucky's method of lethal injection by a vote of 7-2. Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter dissented.^[2]