On February 2, the nation­al law firm of Sidley Austin LLP filed a suit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in fed­er­al court on behalf of six death row inmates from Arizona, California, and Tennessee. The suit seeks to com­pel the FDA to bar the impor­ta­tion or use of unap­proved sodi­um thiopen­tal, a drug used by most states in lethal injec­tions, but no longer avail­able in the U.S. The plain­tiff’s brief states that, fol­low­ing a nation­wide short­age of sodi­um thiopen­tal in 2010, the FDA ille­gal­ly allowed prison offi­cials to obtain the lethal injec­tion drug from sources out­side of the U.S., while refus­ing to inves­ti­gate the safe­ty and puri­ty of the import­ed drugs. The inmates are rep­re­sent­ed by Bradford A. Berenson, a for­mer asso­ciate coun­sel to President George W. Bush and a part­ner at Sidley. In a state­ment released by the law firm, Berenson said, ​“The law requires FDA to ensure that only safe, effec­tive drugs are brought into the United States. When the agency allowed states to import unap­proved sodi­um thiopen­tal, it abdi­cat­ed its respon­si­bil­i­ties and vio­lat­ed fed­er­al law.” Berenson, a sup­port­er of the death penal­ty, also said that the law­suit is ​“not about halt­ing exe­cu­tions but rather about ensur­ing that ille­gal drugs are not used in car­ry­ing out oth­er­wise law­ful sen­tences.” Read full press release from Sidley Austin LLP and read Complaint filed against FDA.

The suit alleges that inmates from the named states face exe­cu­tion with drugs that have been ille­gal­ly import­ed and may cause severe harm. The suit states that the import­ed sodi­um thiopen­tal is ​“unap­proved, mis­brand­ed, [and] adul­ter­at­ed,” all in vio­la­tion of federal law. 

(N. Koppel, ​“FDA Dragged Into Execution-Drug Controversy,” The Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2011). See Lethal Injection.

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