Just hours before, the Supreme Court issued the final go-ahead, ruling in a split 5-4 decision in the dead of night that the federal government’s single-drug execution protocol was constitutional. The verdict cleared the way for Mr. Lee, Mr. Purkey, and Dustin Lee Honken, scheduled to die on Friday, to be executed this week. Mr. Purkey’s lawyers had argued that he was incompetent to be executed. Judge Chutkan’s delays forced the Bureau to briefly postpone Mr. Purkey’s death, scheduled for Wednesday evening. In the case concerning Mr. Purkey’s mental fitness, the court split 5-4 with the liberal justices dissenting, as they did earlier this week in Mr. Lee’s case.

Source: New York Times July 16, 2020 15:22 UTC