In yet another attempt to use semantics to overturn the death penalty, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed suit in federal court claiming that the method of lethal injection used by the State of California violates the First Amendment:
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The American Civil Liberties Union claimed Wednesday that California’s lethal injection method violates the First Amendment rights of execution witnesses by not allowing them to see if the inmate is experiencing pain before death.
The federal lawsuit says the only reason San Quentin State Prison officials inject a paralyzing agent is to sanitize the execution and prevent witnesses from perhaps seeing convulsions.
The paralyzing drug, according to the lawsuit, “makes it impossible for witnesses to determine whether death row inmates in California are being subjected to substantial and unnecessary pain before dying.”
The induced paralysis, the group argued, conceals significant information to which the public is entitled.
The ACLU, which filed the suit on behalf of San Francisco-based Pacific News Service, made a similar argument a year ago before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of a condemned inmate. The court rejected it on procedural grounds, and did not reach the merits of the challenge.
As far as I can tell from my reading of the First Amendment to the Constitution, there exists no “right” for the witnesses of an execution carried out by a State to see the condemned convulse during the procedure. In fact, here is the entire text of the First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Not a single word about executions or witnesses or convulsions. How exactly is the ACLU going to twist and pervert this simple, elegant paragraph into something totally unintended by the authors?
The State of California is going to fight the lawsuit:
In response to Wednesday’s filing, Nathan Barankin, spokesman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer, said: “The ACLU does not have a right to determine what method the state of California should use in carrying out the death penalty.” He said the “paralyzing agent effectively stops inmate breathing.”
Under California’s protocol, a sedative, then the paralyzing agent and finally heart-stopping drugs are injected. The state is seeking court permission to drip the sedative continually to ensure unconsciousness.
If the ACLU put one eighth of the effort it puts into protecting the rights of murderers and rapists into protecting the rights of the victim, it could be a worthy organization. As it is, it isn’t anything more than a group dedicated to the perversion of the American legal system.
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March 9th, 2006 at 4:19 pm
ACLU Says Lethal Injection Violates 1st Ammendment…
Hat tip: Conservative Dialysis
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