Italy and the American Death Penalty

Italian regulators have managed to interfere in American executions - by getting a company to stop making a drug that a lot of states use in their executions by injection.

Hospira, which never condoned the use of its Pentothal for executions, said it was unwilling to take on the liability risk after officials in Italy demanded the company “control the product all the way to the ultimate end user to prevent use in capital punishment.”

You might think states could just switch to whatever it is that vets use to put down animals. But, no... there will be court cases, and appeals, and those appeals will go to the highest court in the land.

The Supreme Court must certify
as perfectly painless
and legally stainless
the poisons they use to make people die.