Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/14-7955_aplc.pdf
Page Number: 98

2 

GLOSSIP v. GROSS 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

On both counts the Court errs.  As a result, it leaves peti­
tioners exposed to what may well be the chemical equiva­
lent of being burned at the stake. 

I 

A 

The  Eighth  Amendment  succinctly  prohibits  the  inflic­
tion of “cruel and unusual punishments.”  Seven years ago,
in  Baze  v.  Rees,  553  U. S.  35  (2008),  the  Court  addressed 
the application of this mandate to Kentucky’s lethal injec­
tion  protocol.  At  that  time,  Kentucky,  like  at  least  29  of
the  35  other  States  with  the  death  penalty,  utilized  a 
series  of  three  drugs  to  perform  executions:  (1)  sodium 
thiopental, a “fast-acting barbiturate sedative that induces 
a  deep,  comalike  unconsciousness  when  given  in  the
amounts  used  for  lethal  injection”;  (2)  pancuronium  bro­
mide, “a paralytic agent that inhibits all muscular-skeletal
movements  and  . . .  stops  respiration”;  and  (3)  potassium
chloride, which “interferes with the electrical signals that
stimulate  the  contractions  of  the  heart,  inducing  cardiac
arrest.”  Id., at 44 (plurality opinion of ROBERTS, C. J.).

In Baze, it was undisputed that absent a “proper dose of 

sodium  thiopental,”  there  would  be  a  “substantial,  consti­
tutionally unacceptable risk of suffocation from the admin­
istration of pancuronium bromide and pain from the injec­
tion of potassium chloride.”  Id., at 53.  That is because, if 
given  to  a  conscious  inmate,  pancuronium  bromide  would 
leave  him  or  her  asphyxiated  and  unable  to  demonstrate 
“any  outward  sign  of  distress,”  while  potassium  chloride
would  cause  “excruciating  pain.”    Id.,  at  71  (Stevens,  J.,
concurring in judgment).  But the Baze petitioners conceded 
that  if  administered  as  intended,  Kentucky’s  method  of
execution would nevertheless “result in a humane death,” 
id.,  at  41  (plurality  opinion),  as  the  “proper  administra­
tion” of sodium thiopental “eliminates any meaningful risk 
that  a  prisoner  would  experience  pain  from  the  subse­