Death penalty controversy

A March 15, 2019 view of the Supreme Court in Washington. The Supreme Court decided Monday that one state cannot unwillingly be sued in the courts of another, overruling a 40-year precedent and perhaps, foreshadowing an argument over the viability of other high court decisions. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2017, file photo, state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, speaks at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Texas. Texas prison officials say the last written words of condemned inmates will no longer be shared publicly in another change to execution-day procedures in the nation's busiest death chamber. Whitmire had chastised prison officials for reading an avowed racist's final written statement after he was executed last week for the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd Jr., a black man. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

FILE--In this Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016, file photo, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge speaks to reporters at Trump Tower, in New York. A federal lawsuit filed by death row inmates in Arkansas has renewed a court fight over whether the sedative Arkansas uses for lethal injections causes torturous executions, two years after the state raced to put eight convicted killers to death in 11 days before its batch expired. Rutledge says the inmates in the case have a very high burden to meet and cites a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month against a Missouri death row inmate. Arkansas recently expanded the secrecy surrounding its lethal injection drug sources, and the case heading to trial Tuesday, April 23, 2019 could impact its efforts to restart executions that had been on hold due to supply. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections shows Christopher Lee Price. A federal judge on Thursday evening, April 11, 2019, has halted the planned execution of Price, who was convicted of the sword-and-dagger stabbing death of a pastor. U.S. District Judge Kristi K. DuBose issued the stay two hours before the scheduled lethal injection of 46-year-old Price. (Alabama Department of Corrections via AP, File)

A woman holds up the Spanish hashtag #Freedom during a protest against the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, outside the Foreign Ministry in Quito, Ecuador, Thursday, April 11, 2019. On Thursday, Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno allowed British authorities to forcibly remove Assange from Ecuador’s small embassy in London where he was given safe haven in 2012. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

FILE - In this March 7, 2019 file photo, State Rep. Jeff Leach, at podium, stands with fellow lawmakers and guests to talk about the Texas Born-Alive bill, in Austin, Texas. Leach, a Republican lawmaker is blocking a bill that would allow the death penalty for women seeking abortions says local authorities are monitoring his home near Dallas. A Texas sheriff's department said Thursday, April 11, 2019 it had "security concerns" over social media posts targeting Leach, who has come under fire by some conservative activists after blocking a bill that could lead to a woman being charged with homicide if she has an abortion. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Joseph James DeAngelo, suspected of being the Golden State Killer, talks with his attorney, Diane Howard, in Sacramento County Superior Court after prosecutors announced they will seek the death penalty if he is convicted in his case, Wednesday, April 10, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. The announcement flies in the face of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who recently announced a moratorium on executions. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris, D-California, addresses supporters while holding a campaign rally at Morehouse College on Sunday, March 24, 2019, in Atlanta. The Democratic candidate for president is at least the fifth presidential candidate to visit Georgia in the 2020 cycle. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)