What South Carolina’s execution dilemma says about America’s death penalty

In South Carolina , the electric chair is the default execution method unless a condemned inmate chooses to die by lethal injection or the firing squad.

The last execution in the state occurred in 2011 , when Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was governor.

The Palmetto State is one of 14 states that now have the death penalty on the books but have not executed anyone in more than a decade .

Austin Sarat: South Carolina should not be able to carry out any lethal injections under its state secrecy statute.

He says the state should provide information about the “potency, purity, and stability” of the drugs that would be used.

The state argued that the court could only strike down South Carolina’s methods of execution if the plaintiffs showed that “there is an alternative and readily feasible, feasibly implemented method of execution that will significantly reduce a severe risk of substantial pain.