Death Penalty Litigation
Presenter: Professor Giovanna Shay

 

This version of Professor Shay's presentation is encoded in Flash video.

 

 

List of Principal Cases

1. Baze v. Rees, 128 S.Ct. 1520 (2008) (upholding Kentucky’s three-drug lethal injection protocol against 8th Amendment challenge).

2. Hill v. McDonough, 126 S.Ct. 2096 (2006) (concluding that challenge to method of lethal injection is cognizable in a civil rights suit).

3. Nelson v. Campbell, 541 U.S. 637 (2004) (concluding that § 1983 is the appropriate vehicle for challenges to method of execution).

4. Kennedy v. Louisiana, 128 S.Ct. 2641 (2008), modified upon denial of reh’g, 2008 WL 4414670 (deeming unconstitutional the imposition of the death penalty for child rape).

5. Coker v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 584 (1977) (barring imposition of death penalty for rape of adult woman).

6. Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005) (barring capital punishment for juveniles).

7. Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002) (barring execution of the mentally retarded).

 

|Supreme Court Review Conference 2007-2008 Term |