Meeting on Monday for the final time until the fall, the Supreme Court has three cases remaining to be
decided:
—Lethal injection: Death-row inmates in Oklahoma are objecting to the use of the sedative midazolam in
lethal-injection executions after the drug was implicated in several botched executions. Their argument
is that the drug does not reliably induce a coma-like sleep that would prevent them from experiencing
the searing pain of the paralytic and heart-stopping drugs that follow sedation.
—Independent redistricting commissions: Roughly a dozen states have adopted independent commissions to
reduce partisan politics in drawing congressional districts. The case from Arizona involves a challenge
from Republican state lawmakers who complain that they can’t be completely cut out of the process
without violating the Constitution.
—Mercury emissions: Industry groups and Republican-led states assert that environmental regulators
overstepped their bounds by coming up with expensive limits on the emissions of mercury and other toxic
pollutants from power plants without taking account of the cost of regulation at the start of the
process. The first-ever limits on mercury emissions, more than a decade in the making, began to take
effect in April.
The justices also could say Monday whether they will take on important cases for the term that begins in
October on abortion, affirmative action and the power of unions that represent government workers.
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