Three new Supreme Court cases involving the death penalty have recently been settled recently.

One concerns the execution of Dominique Ray, a Muslim man executed for the murder of two brothers. Ray requested a Muslim minister be present during his execution.The case was argued on the grounds that Catholic ministers are allowed to be present for executions, and that denying a Muslim minister is a clear violation of the separation of church and state and of Ray’s religious freedoms.

The other Russell Bucklew, who is currently on death row for the murder of his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend. Buckwell argued that death by lethal injection would cause unnecessary suffering, a violation of the eighth amendment, due to a rare medical condition he has known as cavernous hemangioma in which the injection could cause an internal cyst to burst Buckwell to choke on his own blood.

Buckwell’s case is remarkably similar to the case of Christopher Price who also said he would prefer to be executed by nitrogen gas rather than by lethal injection.

In all three cases, the court ruled against the defendants 5-4. The Supreme Court ruled against Ray on the grounds that he waited to long to raise the case. Alabama initially denied his request on the grounds that having non state personnel present would jeopardize the security of the execution.

Buckewell’s case was ruled against, according to Justice Neil Gorsuch, because the eighth amendment,  “does not demand the avoidance of all risk and pain,” therefore lethal injection was legal.

Price’s case was also ruled against for similar reasons to Ray’s/. The Supreme Court denied his plea because he failed to opt into a new Alabama program allowing death row inmates to elect to be executed by nitrogen gas, leading to asphyxiation, instead of be lethal injection, if they apply in a timely manner.

These cases were decided after two new judges were been appointed to the Supreme Court by President Donald Trump. Observers have pointed out that these rulings seem to represent a conservative shift in the Supreme Court. Some fear that these rulings are the beginning of a new, more partisan, Supreme Court in the coming years.