In South Carolina, attorneys for four death row inmates out of appeals are challenging the state’s execution methods—electric chair and firing squad—as cruel and unusual punishments before the Supreme Court. The legal debate also scrutinizes a 2023 law for excessively concealing details about lethal injection protocols and drug suppliers. This case affects the fate of 33 inmates on death row, highlighting the state’s execution standstill for nearly 13 years due to unavailability of lethal injection drugs and anonymity demands by potential suppliers.
The state argues that execution methods do not need to be painless or instantaneous, while opponents cite significant potential pain with both the electric chair, in use since 1912, and the untested firing squad. Additionally, the dispute involves the transparency of lethal injection procedures, specifically the use of pentobarbital, amid concerns over drug potency and execution efficacy. South Carolina’s attempt to resume executions with these methods and under current legal protections is under judicial review, with implications for future capital punishment practices.
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