A group of Democratic senators on Tuesday called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to rescind a Trump administration-era position on execution drugs.
“We respectfully urge you to immediately rescind the Office of Legal Counsel's (OLC) May 3, 2019 Memorandum entitled, 'Whether the Food and Drug Administration Has Jurisdiction Over Items Intended for Use in Lawful Executions' (the 'OLC Opinion'),” the groups wrote in a May 12 letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“The Department of Justice's OLC opinion erroneously found that the Food and Drug Administration lacks the authority to regulate drugs intended for use in executions,” the letter said. “The opinion is deeply flawed, both legally and morally, and exposes death row inmates to unnecessary risks, including the risk of suffering a botched execution.”
The group of senators who signed the letter include Sen. Cory Booker (D-Mass.), Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Sen. Maisie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Peter Welch. Includes Sens. (D-Vermont), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia), Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), and Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts). State Democratic Party).
“This erroneous OLC opinion violates principles of fairness and justice, undermines drug safety, and promotes legally questionable methods of state execution,” the letter said. “This would prevent the FDA from intervening when states obtain unmarked vials from underground suppliers and inject contaminated solutions into their citizens, causing unnecessary painful deaths. be.”
An April report by the anti-death penalty group Reprieve found that black inmates on death row experience higher rates of botched lethal injections than white inmates, with black inmates 220 percent more likely to experience a botched lethal injection than white inmates.
“It is well established that the death penalty is infected with racial bias at every stage of the process,” the report states. “This report makes clear that racial disparities in capital punishment extend all the way to the execution chamber.”
The Hill contacted the Department of Justice.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
