The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit by nine death row inmates who are challenging the state’s execution law.
The court issued a brief statement granting the request by the inmates’ attorneys.
“Your request for oral argument has been granted,” the statement to attorneys said. “You will be notified at a later date of the time and date.”
Lawyers for the inmates have asked justices to uphold Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen’s decision striking down the portion of the law that blocks state officials from revealing where Arkansas gets its execution drugs. The state appealed Griffen’s ruling to the high court, which temporarily halted eight scheduled executions until the challenge could be heard. The ninth isn’t scheduled.
The inmates’ attorneys say allowing the state to withhold information about its lethal injection drugs is unconstitutional and therefore undermines the entire law.
The state has argued in its appeal that it is immune from the lawsuit.
But attorneys for the inmates say Griffen didn’t specifically rule on the issue of immunity, so the state’s appeal should be dismissed. They also argue that even if justices take up that issue, the state is not immune from lawsuits “that seek to prevent the state’s unconstitutional acts.”
The inmates allege the secrecy law is unconstitutional because it could lead to cruel and unusual punishment and violates a settlement in an earlier lawsuit that guaranteed inmates would be given the drug information. The state has said the agreement is not a binding contract because the original lawsuit has been fully resolved and a new execution protocol is now in place.
The state has previously asked that hearings be expedited because one of the execution drugs used in the three-drug protocol expires in June and the company that sold the drugs to the state has already said it will not provide more.
Arkansas last executed an inmate in 2005.
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