A group of Democratic senators on Tuesday called the Department of Justice (DOJ) to rescind a Trump-era opinion on execution drugs.
“We respectfully request that you immediately rescind the May 3, 2019 Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memorandum titled ‘Whether the Food and Drug Administration Has Jurisdiction Over Articles Intended for Use in Law Enforcement’ (‘OLC Opinion’)” , a May 12 letter from the group to Attorney General Merrick Garland reads.
“The Department of Justice (DOJ) OLC opinion incorrectly concluded that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not have jurisdiction to regulate drugs intended for use in executions,” the letter says. The opinion is deeply flawed – both legally and morally – and poses unnecessary risks to individuals on death row, including the risk of suffering a botched execution.”
The group of senators who signed the letter includes Senators Cory Booker (DN.J.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Peter Welch (D- Hawaii), Peter Welch (D-Hawaii), -Vt.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Ed Markey (D-Mass. ).
“This misguided opinion of the OLC is inconsistent with the principles of impartiality and justice, undermines drug safety, and facilitates legally dubious state enforcement methods,” the letter says. “This blocks the [Food and Drug Administration] to intervene when states obtain unmarked vials from clandestine suppliers, inject their citizens with contaminated solutions, and cause unnecessarily painful deaths.”
An April report from the anti-death penalty group Reprieve found that black death row inmates suffered botched procedures at higher rates than white inmates, with black inmates being 220 percent more likely to suffer a botched lethal injection in compared to whites. .
“It is well established that the death penalty is infected with racial bias at every stage of the process,” the report states. “This report reveals that racial disparities in capital punishment extend all the way to the execution chamber.”
The Hill reached out to the DOJ.
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