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Shortly after 1 a.m. on Saturday, Dustin Higgs became the 13th person since July to be executed by the federal government. Hours earlier, the Supreme Court announced a 6-3 decision paving the way for execution – but it was not without scathing dissent from Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
“After seventeen years without a single federal execution, the government has executed twelve people since July,” Sotomayor wrote in his opinion. “Today, Dustin Higgs will become the thirteenth. To put this in historical context, the federal government will have executed more than three times as many people in the past six months than it has in the past six decades. previous ones. ”
As stated in Sotomayor’s opinion, the Federal Law on the Death Penalty was enacted in 1994. Prior to July 2020, only three people had been executed at the federal level – two in 2001 and one in 2003.
After a 17-year hiatus, President Trump resumed federal executions in July 2020. By December, the US government executed more people in the year than all the states which still carry out executions.
Sotomayor wrote that the past 7 months have seen an “unprecedented rush” of federal executions which has led to numerous legal disputes.
One of those disputes, she wrote, is that the government has scheduled executions at such a rapid pace that those facing these executions have had to “speed up the challenge of their sentences.” In some cases, she writes, courts have not even had a chance to determine whether the executions were legal.
“… the DOJ [Department of Justice] did not exercise caution, “Sotomayor wrote.” … Rather than allow an orderly resolution of these prosecutions, the Government has systematically refused to postpone the executions and requested emergency assistance so that the courts have a chance to determine whether the executions were even legal. ”
Higgs was convicted in 1996 of kidnapping and ordering the murder of three women. His lawyers had requested a stay of execution because they claimed Higgs’ lungs were damaged after contracting COVID-19, and argued the execution would result in “a drowning sensation similar to that of waterboarding” .
“It is not justice,” Sotomayor continued. “… Yet the court allowed the United States to execute thirteen people in six months under a statutory scheme and regulatory protocol that have been inadequately reviewed, without settling the serious allegations made by the convicts. Those whom the Government executed in this attempt deserved more of this Court. “
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