Nebraska became the first “red state” since 1973 to abolish the death penalty this week, and did so in dramatic fashion after state legislators there banded together to overrule a veto by Governor Pete Ricketts.
The state gained notoriety in 2011 in its scramble to execute death row inmates after prison authorities reached out to foreign suppliers of lethal drugs, including several in India, following massive shortages of in the U.S. of the sedative sodium thiopental.
They did so despite import approvals not being authorised by the U.S. regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, yet media reports, including in >The Hindu , highlighted the role of the Indian firm involved, Kayem Pharma, and that company subsequently pulled out of the deal with the U.S. prison.
This week, however, the staunchly Republican state overcame resistance from Governor Rickett’s office to pass by a margin of 30 to 19 votes, a bill to abolish the death penalty altogether.
The bill’s sponsor State Senator Ernie Chambers was quoted saying, “Today we are doing something that transcends me, that transcends this Legislature, that transcends this state,” adding that he had attempted to repeal the death penalty 37 times in his four decades as a lawmaker.
However with Nebraska being the only conservative-dominated state to end the death penalty since North Dakota did so 42 years ago, there appeared to be a strong pushback from the Governor’s office.
Following the upturning of his veto in the legislature on Wednesday Governor Ricketts said, “My words cannot express how appalled I am that we have lost a critical tool to protect law enforcement and Nebraska families,” adding that the legislature had “lost touch with the citizens of Nebraska…”
Nationwide, a majority of Americans support the death penalty although that level of support has been steadily declining for two decades now.
There is a clear partisan divide in the support for capital punishment too, and while it is supported by more than 75 per cent of Republicans, it is opposed by a majority of Democrats.
