When eight-year-old L.H. arrived at the hospital, “a laceration to the left wall of the vagina had separated her cervix from the back of her vagina, causing her rectum to protrude into the vaginal structure. Her entire perineum was torn from the posterior fourchette to the anus,” wrote Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy in [Patrick] Kennedy v. Louisiana, which was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on April 16 and decided on June 25 of this year.

On April 16, 2008, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Commonwealth of Kentucky may continue using three drugs when executing criminals by lethal injection. Chief Justice John G. Roberts announced the judgment and offered the opinion that carried the day. Six of the associate justices concurred, sometimes also writing their own opinions. Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg dissented in a written opinion that Associate Justice David Hackett Souter joined.