Will they sterilize the needles now that they know they may not actually kill anyone?

So they think torture is OK.

Without explanation, without comment, without dissent, and without a shred of apparent concern or human decency, the Supreme Court of Ohio today refused to stop the murder of Lawrence Reynolds. The court thus proved again the applicability to it of Justice Jackson's words about the U.S. Supreme Court.

We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final.

There were two entries, issued simultaneously here. I reproduce them in their entirety.

MERIT DECISIONS WITHOUT OPINIONS

2009-1740. In re Reynolds.
In Habeas Corpus. On petition for writ of habeas corpus of Lawrence Reynolds and respondent’s motion to dismiss. Motion to dismiss granted. Cause dismissed.
Moyer, C.J., and Pfeifer, Lundberg Stratton, O’Donnell, Lanzinger, and Cupp, JJ., concur.
O’Connor, J., not participating.

MOTION AND PROCEDURAL RULINGS

1996-1956. State v. Reynolds.
Summit App. No. 16845. This cause came on for further consideration upon the filing of appellant's motion for stay of execution scheduled for October 8, 2009.
It is ordered by the court that the motion is denied.
O’Connor, J., not participating.

That's it. Cold and spare. I suppose when you say that it's OK to kill someone knowing that torture is a real possibility you really don't want to explain why. But you know, they ought to own up to it.

The good news is that there's plenty of time for intervention. The bad news is that time is running out. There remains the 6th Circuit. SCOTUS, perhaps. And the Governor.

It seems a safe bet that all the others wished the folks in Columbus had stopped this, so that they wouldn't need to go on record. None of them want much to stop it or let it go on. None want to be part of this legal and moral mess. But they all are. Whether they speak to this particular case at this particular time or not. They brought us this far.

They signed off on this killing before. They've signed off on others. They've said, some more explicitly than others, but they've all said it, that the details don't matter. It's all close enough for government work. Your government. And mine. At work.