The Supreme Court handed down Baze v. Rees this morning, upholding the three-drug protocol. The opinion is here. I have to hit the road, unfortunately, so I won’t be able to blog more on it right away, but it looks like the vote was ultimately 7-2 to allow the protocol. At the same time, he Court was splintered as to the rationale: There was no majority opinion on exactly what the correct standard is for the constitutionality of execution protocols. My sense is that under the Marks rule, however, the Roberts plurality opinion can be treated as the Court’s binding opinion. But that’s just based on a quick skim. More later, when I’m back at my computer.