After the Arkansas decision noted above, Justice Sotomayor dissented from the Supreme Court's decision not to grant a stay because, she said, the courts of appeals were divided on the issue, citing the Sixth Circuit panel decision.  As I noted in this post, there was no split because the Sixth had already taken the case en banc, i.e., for decision by the full court.

Yesterday Justice Sotomayor dissented again, joined only by Justice Ginsburg.  No mention of a circuit split this time.  There still isn't one.

The solution for those who are genuinely concerned about the midazolam protocol is simple.  Open up importation of barbiturates from Asia.  A quite simple statutory change is all that is needed to abrogate a wrong D.C. Circuit decision and turn the flow back on.

Of course, if the hand-wringing about midazolam is a sham and the true agenda is to stop executions regardless of any potential for pain, then the same people would oppose any such change.

Continuing with the Columbus Dispatch story:

Had she lived, Sheila would have been 27 years old. She was just 3 when, over two or three days in January 1993, she was beaten, repeatedly raped anally, thrown against a wall, dragged by her hair, and punched so hard in the abdomen by Phillips that it killed her.

"This is a time to remember my little sister," Mundell said. "She was innocent and loving and trusting with the whole world. It took such a long time for the death of the man who took it all away from her."

While there was no doubt about Phillips' guilt -- he confessed to the crime after lying at first -- his legal appeals have extended for years.

We spend far too much in time and resources litigating issues that have nothing to do with guilt.  Where the underlying offense is one for which death is a just punishment, as this one surely is, then a trial, a direct appeal, and one collateral review in state court is all that is needed for the penalty phase of the case.  Any further reviews should be strictly limited to issues bearing on guilt.