The Supreme Court Just Allowed the Executions of Two Disabled Black Men

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://truthout.org/articles/the-supreme-court-just-allowed-the-executions-of-two-disabled-black-men/

In what activists warn could be the first in a spike of executions this year, Matthew Reeves and Donald Anthony Grant were killed via lethal injection by the states of Alabama and Oklahoma respectively on Thursday, just one month before a constitutional challenge to Oklahoma’s lethal injection protocol goes to trial.

The Supreme Court denied an application to stay Grant’s execution on Wednesday, a move overshadowed by the news that Justice Stephen Breyer plans to retire. Reeves’s life was in the high court’s hands Thursday as President Joe Biden began the process of selecting a nominee to succeed Breyer, but the justices reversed lower court rulings to allow the execution to proceed in a split 5-4 decision. The state of Alabama killed Reeves in Holman prison after the legal wrangling ended last night.

Both men are Black, and Black and Latino people make up more than half of death row nationally. Activists have long emphasized the systemic racism inherent in the death penalty system.

The killing of Grant and the dramatic, last-minute fight for Reeves’s survival comes “amidst a relatively new phenomena” of forcing prisoners to choose how they will be killed, according Abe Bonowitz, an organizer with Death Penalty Action. Both men were reportedly given a “decision” about how they would be killed but failed to make it in time.

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[a kennedy]

1. 🤬 😢 🤬 😢 🤬 😢 🤬 😢 🤬 😢 🤬 😢 🤬 😢 🤬

[leftieNanner]

2. What you said.

Exactly.

The Death Penalty should be permanently banned.

[Dr. Shepper]

3. Hmm. Almost like they are

Cafeteria Catholics or something. Respect for life my ass. It’s about control.

[a kennedy]

6. EXACTLY, RESPECT FOR LIFE my ass. 🤬 🤬 🤬

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. Abolish the death penalty.

[ForgedCrank]

5. It's terrible

but, he put a shotgun to a guys neck and pulled the trigger almost decapitated him after robbing him, then went to a party afterwords.
The other one murdered two innocent young women in cold blood for nothing more than some cash.
It's difficult for me to see this any other way than just.

[Nevilledog]

7. Supports the Death Penalty ✅

[ForgedCrank]

8. Not necessarily,

but in some cases, it is appropriate.
And should I take your reply in any particular way?

[Nevilledog]

9. I don't support the death penalty. Just noting you do.