Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/14-7955_aplc.pdf
Page Number: 8

4 

GLOSSIP v. GROSS 

Opinion of the Court 

case  in  which  a  State’s  initial  attempt  to  execute  a  pris- 
oner  by  electrocution  was  unsuccessful.    Louisiana  ex  rel. 
Francis  v.  Resweber,  329  U. S.  459,  463–464  (1947)  (plu-
rality  opinion).  Most recently,  in  Baze,  supra,  seven  Jus-
tices  agreed  that  the  three-drug  protocol  just  discussed 
does not violate the Eighth Amendment. 

Our  decisions  in  this  area  have  been  animated  in  part 
by  the  recognition  that  because  it  is  settled  that  capital
punishment is constitutional, “[i]t necessarily follows that
there must be a [constitutional] means of carrying it out.” 
Id.,  at  47.  And  because  some  risk  of  pain  is  inherent  in 
any method of execution, we have held that the Constitu-
tion  does  not  require  the  avoidance  of  all  risk  of  pain. 
Ibid.  After all, while most humans wish to die a painless
death, many do not have that good fortune.  Holding that 
the Eighth Amendment demands the elimination of essen-
tially  all  risk  of  pain  would  effectively  outlaw  the  death 
penalty altogether. 

B 
Baze  cleared  any  legal  obstacle  to  use  of  the  most  com-
mon  three-drug  protocol  that  had  enabled  States  to  carry 
out the death penalty in a quick and painless fashion.  But 
a  practical  obstacle  soon  emerged,  as  anti-death-penalty 
advocates  pressured  pharmaceutical  companies  to  refuse 
to  supply  the  drugs  used  to  carry  out  death  sentences. 
The sole American manufacturer of sodium thiopental, the 
first  drug  used  in  the  standard  three-drug  protocol,  was 
persuaded to cease production of the drug.  After suspend-
ing  domestic  production  in  2009,  the  company  planned  to
resume production in Italy.  Koppel, Execution Drug Halt
Raises  Ire  of  Doctors,  Wall  Street  Journal,  Jan.  25,  2011, 
p. A6.  Activists then pressured both the company and the 
Italian  Government  to  stop  the  sale  of  sodium  thiopental 
for use in lethal injections in this country.  Bonner, Letter 
from  Europe:  Drug  Company  in  Cross  Hairs  of  Death