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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   15677 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 19, 2022

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While the hypothetical has much potential for dark humour, Canada's MAiD program does not seem to have had much interest in deterring people rather than expanding its usage. Indeed, the entire concept is to reduce (specific forms of) suffering; legalizing a method specifically for its cruelty is the polar opposite of the motivating philosophy.

Currently this may be the case, but things can change in the future. My impression is US courts are often concerned not just with the present facts but with the principles they are being asked to endorse. By way to describing this distinction I think most US courts would agree "the methods Canada currently employs for voluntary euthanasia are not 'cruel and unusual' punishment within the meaning of the 8th amendment." Certainly that has been the conclusion of our own Supreme Court. I also think most US courts would decline to endorse the principle OP appears to be pointing at, specifically "Canada having legalized a particular method of killing people for voluntary euthanasia implies that method of killing people is not 'cruel and unusual' punishment within the meaning of the 8th amendment." In the style of the Euthyphro dilemma it may be that Canada's methods of voluntary euthanasia are not cruel and unusual, but whatever makes them not-cruel-and-unusual is not the fact that they are Canada's methods of voluntary euthanasia.

By way to describing this distinction I think most US courts would agree "the methods Canada currently employs for voluntary euthanasia are not 'cruel and unusual' punishment within the meaning of the 8th amendment."

My recollection of current jurisprudence is that the left-leaning justices are more inclined to cite international practice, while the right tends to lean on Originalism (Constitutional literalism, frequently) and occasionally English Common Law circa 1776. I don't think your idea is wrong, but I don't see the conservative justices being willing to cite international precedent or the liberals arguing for any application of the death penalty.

Honestly, IMO the death penalty isn't worth the (legal, mostly) hassle in most cases. But if it were, inert gas asphyxiation seems like it would be ideal but for the huge legal fight over approving a new method.

But if it were, inert gas asphyxiation seems like it would be ideal but for the huge legal fight over approving a new method.

Why not just use existing inhalational anaesthetic agents? Just don't add oxygen to the mixture and let hypoxia kill the condemned. You could even use stuff like halothane, since its side effects are irrelevant. Although I guess it would be equivalent to the one-drug lethal injection method, where they OD the condemned on pentobarbital.

Isn’t Oklahoma working slowly towards the use of inert gas asphyxiation?

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