Cruel and Unusual

First, this happened:

PS If RBG were still on the court, this case would’ve deadlocked 4–4 due to Gorsuch’s recusal, and the execution would have stayed on hold.— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) October 28, 2021

Then, this happened:

An Oklahoma death row inmate who was executed Thursday convulsed and vomited shortly after receiving the first drug, a witness said, in the state’s first execution since it postponed lethal injections years ago for a review.The first drug used in John Grant’s execution was midazolam, a sedative that some states introduced to execution procedures in recent years as drug companies forbade use of other products.

Midazolam’s use has been controversial, as death penalty critics have argued that it’s not a painkilling anesthetic.

On Thursday, Grant began convulsing almost immediately after midazolam — the first in Oklahoma’s three-drug lethal injection protocol — was administered, according to CNN affiliate KOKH reporter Dan Snyder, who attended the execution at the state penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma.

“His entire upper back repeatedly lifted off the gurney,” Snyder said. “As the convulsions continued, Grant then began to vomit.” For the next few minutes, medical staff entered the room multiple times to wipe away and remove vomit from the still-breathing Grant, according to Snyder. Grant was declared unconscious by medical staff at about 4:15 pm.

You might think this foreseeable botched execution the Court’s Republicans assured would happen with all reckless speed is not, how shall I put this, legal given the categorical federal constitutional prohibition on “cruel and unusual” punishments. However, Justices Alito and Gorsuch have established the non-legal standard that torture killings magically become constitutional if defendants cannot identify a less torturous method available to the state. The aristocrats textualists!

Of course, at every point in this disgusting process the cruelty is the point:

Here is a statement from an attorney for Grant pic.twitter.com/x0Nc3oS7mr— Dillon Richards (@KOCODillon) October 28, 2021