Louisiana Lawmakers Say Their State's Execution Drugs Aren't Secret Enough

As the shortage of lethal injection drugs continues to disrupt capital punishment in America, a pattern is emerging: Judges keep ordering states to reveal where the drugs are coming from, while the states keep fighting to keep the information secret.

In response to a federal judge ordering the state to reveal the source of its lethal injection drugs, Louisiana's state government is voting on legislation to keep the information secret. A bill that is designed to keep the source of the drugs from the public, the criminal lawyers, the state courts, and any other investigative bodies has been moved to the full state House of Representatives for a vote, the Times-Picayune reports.

Louisiana Department of Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc said that the secrecy is necessary to ensure Louisiana can purchase the execution drugs. "This is about protecting the suppliers. It's a protection issue, not a secrecy issue," LeBlanc told the Committee on House and Governmental Affairs according to the Times-Picayune.

It's also about protecting the state's supply. In court filings, the state of Louisiana said that if it identifies the source of the drugs, corrections officials might not be able to continue obtaining the drugs, because the companies that make and sell them won't want to be known as helping facilitate an execution.

But both the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals and US District Judge James Brady rejected this claim, and ruled that the state had to disclose the name of the supplier to the defendant and his lawyers.

At the heart of the issue are the constitutional rights of access to the courts, as well as the protection from cruel and unusual punishment. Critics in the comments section under these types of articles will often argue that the defendants' victims weren't afforded their constitutional rights, an argument that both ignores and illustrates that rights aren't something reserved just for the good people.

Louisiana is following a trend. As an April New York Times op-ed explained, in the past year, states including Georgia, Missouri, and Tennessee have expanded their secrecy laws to include not just the execution drugs used, but the pharmacies that supply them. The legal tides, though, may be turning.

While the Texas Department of Criminal Justice can win an appeal to perform executions without disclosing the source of the drugs used, elsewhere secrecy laws are being pushed back against. Georgia is reviewing the state's laws. Alabama's state legislature rejected a bill that would have hidden the names of companies and individuals involved in the production of lethal injection drugs. Oklahoma's entire death penalty protocol is undergoing review after the botched execution of Clayton Lockett.

Regardless of how you feel about it, the death penalty remains legal in Louisiana, said State Rep. Joe Lopinto, who sponsored the new bill. While he's right, the question has become whether a state can continue using lethal injection without breaking the law.