Supreme Court rejects challenge to the federal execution protocol

The Supreme Court on Monday gave the federal government a green light to again carry out death sentences for the first time since 2003.

The justices declined to hear a case accusing the Trump administration of cutting corners in approving new protocols to restart executions, including how to mix a lethal injection and how to administer it.

Attorneys for death row inmates Alfred Bourgeois, Dustin Lee Honken, Daniel Lewis Lee and Wesley Purkey said federal officials didn’t go through the right process and argued the administration is impinging on the power of states to set rules for carrying out executions.

Denying the appeal leaves in place a ruling from the federal circuit appeals court in Washington, D.C., which ruled the federal government’s protocols do not have to exactly match the rules of a state where an execution is to be carried out. Each of the four inmates has been convicted of murdering children, among other crimes.

Until 1937, federal death row inmates were hung to death by U.S. marshals, but Congress later gave states the authority to implement protocols and standards for death sentences, reasoning they would be more humane.

Forms of execution employed by states include the electric chair, gas chamber and lethal injection.

Federal executions have been rare in recent history.

Only three individuals have been executed since the federal government restored the highest level of punishment in 1988.

The most recent person to die by federal lethal injection was Louis Jones, who kidnapped, raped, and murdered a young female soldier, Tracie McBride, in 1995.

The move by the high court puts federal executions back on schedule.

The four convicted murderers who brought the challenge are set to be put to death in July and August.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Sonia Sotomayor wanted to hear the challenge.

Lee is the first up for execution with a July 13 date to carry out his sentence at USP Terre Haute, a federal prison in Indiana.

Purkey and Honken will be executed on July 15 and July 17, respectively. Nelson is to be put to death Aug. 28.

There are still legal battles pending in lower courts concerning the federal government’s execution policy.

⦁ Stephen Dinan contributed to this article.