How Fair Courts Can Prevent Oklahoma-type Debacles

Oklahoma recently thrust the death penalty back into national debate when state officials, including Gov. Mary Fallin, put pressure on the state’s Supreme Court to allow the execution of two death row inmates to proceed. The court had originally stayed the executions to determine whether a new combination of drugs would pass state and federal constitutional muster, but it reversed its action only days later under intense political pressure. Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick and death penalty expert Megan McCracken of Berkeley Law discussed the horribly botched execution of Clayton D. Lockett and its effects on national debate.