Medellin Execution Date Set: The Blog of Legal Times has this post on the decision to set Jose Medellin's execution for August 5, 2008. In March 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that an International Court of Justice judgment was not binding domestic law, and Medellin was not entitled to further review of his conviction and death sentence. CJLF submitted an Amicus Brief in the case. The brief can be found here. See also press coverage in today's News Scan.

Predicting Lethal Injection Review Post-Baze: Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog has this post on proceedings in the Fourth Circuit on the question of whether Virginia's lethal injection protocol satisfies the constitutional standards articulated in Baze v. Rees. Virginia filed its petition with the Fourth Circuit last Friday, its brief can be found here. Denniston reports that Virginia's brief focuses heavily on the argument that the district court anticipated the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Baze, and applied the same constitutional standards to uphold Virginia's method. This brief is in response to Christopher Scott Emmett's April 16th petition to the Fourth Circuit urging the Fourth Circuit to send the case back to the district court to determine if Virginia's protocol adequately resembles the lethal injection upheld in Baze v. Rees. Emmett's petition can be found here. Denniston's post notes that the Fourth Circuit's decision could lead the way by setting an example for other courts to follow when reviewing state lethal injection protocols.

Media Coverage on Execution's Post-Baze: Over at Sentencing Law and Policy Douglas Berman also has this comment on the news stories that have reported on scheduled executions in the wake of Baze v. Rees. Based on the media coverage, and politician silence after the Baze decision, Berman predicts we will not see a "serious change in capital" punishment "even if we see a few executions every week for the rest of 2008."