OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is among 14 state attorneys general asking the U.S. Department of Justice to appeal a decision that they claim limits a state's ability to execute inmates.
In a letter dated Monday, Pruitt and the other attorneys general asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to appeal a March ruling by a district court in the District of Columbia known as the Beaty decision. In its decision, the court ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to order state prison systems to return any foreign-manufactured sodium thiopental to the FDA.
Although Oklahoma does not currently use sodium thiopental in executions, Pruitt and the other attorneys general maintain the decision "could be construed to significantly impair the state's ability to enforce their laws through capital punishment."