Oral arguments are scheduled for Monday (Jan. 7) in Baze v. Rees, the joint lawsuit brought by Baze and Bowling against John D. Rees, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Corrections, and two other state officials, including former Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R). In the lawsuit, the prisoners claim the three-drug combination used to put inmates to death in Kentucky &045; and in the 35 other states that allow lethal injection &045; violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban against cruel and unusual punishment.

Alabama has at least one case pending with local connections, so reporters with The Selma Times-Journal will be watching Monday’s oral arguments. Serial killer Daniel Lee Siebert was scheduled to die in Alabama, but received a reprieve in October after a three-judge panel of 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta put his execution on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court decides a Kentucky case.

The Selma Times-Journal will watch this case and others.