Fordham Urban Law Journal Volume 35 | Number 4 Article 2 2008 In the Eye of the Storm: A Judge's Experience in Lethal-Injection Litigation Jeremey Fogel Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ulj Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Jeremey Fogel, In the Eye of the Storm: A Judge's Experience in Lethal-Injection Litigation, 35 Fordham Urb. L.J. 735 (2008). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ulj/vol35/iss4/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The orF dham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Urban Law Journal by an authorized editor of FLASH: The orF dham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. IN THE EYE OF THE STORM: A JUDGE'S EXPERIENCE IN LETHAL-INJECTION LITIGATION The Honorable Jeremy Fogel* INTRODUCTION The case of Morales v. Tilton,' which challenges the constitution- ality of California's lethal-injection protocol for executions, is unique among the many thousands of disputes over which I have presided in more than twenty-six years as a federal and state judge. It has demanded the most from me-intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually-of any matter that ever has appeared on my docket. While I may not comment on the merits of the case be- cause it is still pending before me,2 I am hopeful that those who read this Article will find my personal experience of interest, as a commentary on the workings of our legal system, a meditation on being a judge, and a reflection upon the potency of the death pen- alty as an issue in our society.