Noting the SCOTUS lethal injection dodge

The Supreme Court's decision today not to take on a Tennessee case that directly addresses the constitutionality of lethal injection protocols (basics here) has drawn the attention of a number of media outlets:

• The Christian Science Monitor has this piece
• The AP has this piece
• Reuters has this piece

I am a bit surprised by the somewhat tepid nature of many quotes in these article.  As I have suggested in a series of posts (such as here and here and here), the lethal injection litigation over the last four months has to be considered a national disgrace, and I think SCOTUS deserves much of the blame for the ugliness.  But while the Supreme Court apparently has enough time and energy to consider a "odd flyspeck" Fourth Amendment case with only misdemeanor charges hanging in the balance (details here), the Court will not yet spend its precious time on a truly life-and-death Eighth Amendment issue.  Hmmm...