The Supreme Court spent a gruesome hour Tuesday debating a constitutional way to execute a Missouri man who has a rare medical condition, with the likely decider, new Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joining the court's liberals with tough questions for the state.
Modern and ancient execution methods — a firing squad, electrocution, hanging, lethal gas, being burned at the stake — all made appearances during the court’s sober assement of ways to kill Russell Bucklew without violating the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Missouri plans to use an injection of a single drug, pentobarbital, to carry out the long-delayed execution of Bucklew.