The Supreme Court: Lethal injections and same-sex marriage

    Listen 00:48:45

    Guests: Megan McCracken, Lenore Carpenter and Tobias Barrington Wolff

    Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that it is legal to use the controversial drug midazolam in executions. The drug was part of the protocol in last year’s botched lethal injection execution of Clayton Lockett. The case was brought to the court by three death row inmates who said its use violated the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Guest host Mary Cummings-Jordan talks about the ruling and what it says about the future of lethal injections and the death penalty in the United States with MEGAN McCRACKEN, Eighth Amendment Resource Counsel with the U.C. Berkeley School of Law’s Death Penalty Clinic. Then, same-sex couples celebrated this weekend after Friday’s landmark decision by the Supreme Court backing marriage equality. In a 5-4 decision, the Court ruled that gay couples have the right to marry under the Constitution, legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. We’ll we examine this decision — the majority and dissenting opinions — and look at what’s next for gay civil rights and for opponents of same-sex marriage with LEONORE CARPENTER, associate professor of law at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law, and TOBIAS BARRINGTON WOLFF, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

    WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

    Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

    Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal