Judge again blocks US from resuming federal executions

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., once again blocked the Trump administration from resuming executions just hours before the first federal death sentence since 2003 was scheduled to be carried out.

Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday ordered a preliminary injunction against the government while the courts hear a legal challenge from four death row inmates against the administration’s new execution protocols announced last summer. She ruled that the new protocol likely violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The ruling is the second injunction Chutkan has issued in the case. A similar order from last November that found the new protocols likely violated federal death penalty laws was overturned by an appeals court, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Continue reading.