Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/14-7955_aplc.pdf
Page Number: 7.0

Cite as:  576 U. S. ____ (2015) 

3 

Opinion of the Court 

Nevertheless, hanging and the firing squad were retained 
in some States, see, e.g., 1961 Del. Laws ch. 309, §2 (hang-
ing);  1935  Kan.  Sess.  Laws  ch.  155,  §1  (hanging);  Utah
Code  Crim.  Proc.  §105–37–16  (1933)  (hanging  or  firing
squad),  and  electrocution  remained  the  predominant
method  of  execution  until  the  9-year  hiatus  in  executions 
that  ended  with  our  judgment  in  Gregg  v.  Georgia,  428 
U. S. 153 (1976).  See Baze, supra, at 42. 

After  Gregg  reaffirmed  that  the  death  penalty  does  not 
violate the Constitution, some States once again sought a 
more  humane  way  to  carry  out  death  sentences.    They
eventually adopted lethal injection, which today is “by far 
the  most  prevalent  method  of  execution  in  the  United
States.”  Baze,  supra,  at  42.    Oklahoma  adopted  lethal
injection in 1977, see 1977 Okla. Sess. Laws p. 89, and it 
eventually  settled  on  a  protocol  that  called  for  the  use  of 
three  drugs:  (1) sodium  thiopental,  “a  fast-acting  barbitu-
rate  sedative  that  induces  a  deep,  comalike  unconscious-
ness when given in the amounts used for lethal injection,”
(2) a paralytic agent, which “inhibits all muscular-skeletal
movements and, by paralyzing the diaphragm, stops respi-
ration,” and (3) potassium chloride, which “interferes with 
the electrical signals that stimulate the contractions of the 
heart,  inducing  cardiac  arrest.”  Baze,  supra,  at  44;  see 
also  Brief  for  Respondents  9.    By  2008,  at  least  30  of  the 
36 States that used lethal injection employed that particu-
lar three-drug protocol.  553 U. S., at 44. 

While  methods  of  execution  have  changed  over  the
years, “[t]his Court has never invalidated a State’s chosen 
procedure  for  carrying  out  a  sentence  of  death  as  the
infliction of cruel and unusual punishment.”  Id., at 48.  In 
Wilkerson v. Utah, 99 U. S. 130, 134–135 (1879), the Court 
upheld  a  sentence  of  death  by  firing  squad.    In  In  re 
Kemmler,  supra,  at  447–449,  the  Court  rejected  a  chal-
lenge  to  the  use  of  the  electric  chair.    And  the  Court  did 
not retreat from that holding even when presented with a