A pharmacy that has received more than $125,000 in cash payments from Missouri for providing lethal injection drugs that the state has used in 16 executions has argued in a court filing that its identity should remain secret, claiming that selling execution drugs to the state’s Department of Corrections is political speech protected by the First Amendment. The supplier’s information was requested in a subpoena by Mississippi death row inmates who are challenging that state’s execution protocol, and seeking information about other state practices as part of their lawsuit. The pharmacy, which is identified in court documents as “M7,” filed a motion stating that its “decision to provide lethal chemicals to the Department was based on M7’s political views on the death penalty, and not based on economic reasons. …The fact that M7’s expression of political views involves a commercial transaction does not diminish M7’s First Amendment rights.” BuzzFeed News reports that Missouri paid the pharmacy $7,178.88 for two vials of pentobarbital per execution, which it describes as well above market value, amid concerns that the cash payments may have violated federal tax laws. Analyzing M7’s claim, Bloomberg News columnist Noah Feldman described the pharmacy’s constitutional argument as “deeply flawed.” Feldman writes that “there’s an enormous difference between speaking and acting—particularly when that action is a for-profit commercial transaction with the government. … [I]n a democracy, it’s crucially important for the government to disclose its vendors, both to avoid corruption and to promote transparency.” M7 asserted in its filing that releasing its identity could subject the pharmacy to harassment and boycotts, relying on statements from a security consultant, Lawrence Cunningham, whose previous statements about the potential threats to execution drug suppliers have been exposed as unsupported or exaggerated. “The M7 situation helps demonstrate why it’s so dangerous to treat corporations as though they have fundamental constitutional rights while doing business,” Feldman writes. “Those basic rights are designed to protect individuals against government power. They aren’t supposed to be used to exempt businesses from regulation or publicity whenever it’s convenient for them.”

(C. McDaniel and C. Geidner, “Pharmacy Argues There’s A First Amendment Right To Secretly Sell Execution Drugs,” BuzzFeed News, September 25, 2016; N. Feldman, “Death-Penalty Drugmaker Shouldn’t Be Anonymous,” Bloomberg, September 26, 2016.) See Lethal Injection.

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