A recent op-ed by for­mer Texas Governor Mark White (pic­tured) and for­mer Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerald Kogan crit­i­cized a recent­ly passed North Carolina law that impos­es secre­cy on the source of lethal injec­tion drugs and removes exe­cu­tion pro­ce­dures from pub­lic review and com­ment. The authors said the new law will only pro­long lit­i­ga­tion, rather than end­ing North Carolina’s hold on exe­cu­tions, as intend­ed. The op-ed also main­tained that the new pol­i­cy vio­lates demo­c­ra­t­ic prin­ci­ples: ​“The foun­da­tion of our con­sti­tu­tion­al repub­lic lies in account­abil­i­ty and trans­paren­cy, enabling American cit­i­zens to learn and debate about pol­i­cy. Yet cit­i­zens can­not engage in robust con­ver­sa­tions when basic infor­ma­tion is hid­den.” Arguing that both sup­port­ers and oppo­nents of the death penal­ty should oppose secre­cy, they said, ​“Regardless of our views on the death penal­ty, Americans must main­tain a prin­ci­pled approach to its imple­men­ta­tion. The stan­dard ought to be the U.S. Constitution, which man­dates the gov­ern­ment impose no cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ments. As long as states imple­ment the death penal­ty, we must ensure they fol­low this constitutional standard.”

(M. White and G. Kogan, ​“On death penal­ty drugs, what does NC have to hide?,” News & Observer (NC), August 17, 2015). See New Voices and Lethal Injection.

Citation Guide