WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- The Supreme Court , in a 7-2 ruling , upheld Kentucky 's use of lethal injection as a means of executing prisoners , ruling that the method -- used in 35 states -- is properly and humanely applied . The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Kentucky 's use of lethal injection is not `` cruel and unusual . '' At issue was whether the most common method of capital punishment can cause excruciating pain for death row inmates , violating the Constitution 's ban on `` cruel and unusual punishment '' and thereby giving inmates a proper challenge in court . The justices had never directly addressed the fundamental question over the constitutionality of the chemical `` cocktail '' of drugs used to execute convicted killers . All but one of the states that perform executions use the three-drug mixture . `` Kentucky has adopted a method of execution believed to be the most humane available , '' Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority . `` If administered as intended , that procedure will result in a painless death . '' The immediate impact of the ruling is that it will allow states to resume executions , which had been on hold since September while the high court considered this appeal . No executions are scheduled in the next few weeks . The ruling gives guidance to other states , some of which may have to modify their procedures to fall in line with Kentucky 's method and thereby survive judicial scrutiny . Kentucky inmates Ralph Baze and Clyde Bowling Jr. brought suit in federal court three years ago , questioning that state 's three-chemical mixture and the procedures used to administer it . They claim that the first drug , sodium thiopental , which renders the prisoner unconscious , wears off too quickly and that some prisoners are actually awake and able to feel pain as the procedure continues . The second drug , pancuronium bromide , paralyzes all muscle movement and then prevents the condemned person from speaking and expressing awareness of pain , according to the suit , and the third drug , potassium chloride , which induces cardiac arrest , is `` excruciatingly painful in a conscious person . '' `` We ... agree that petitioners have not carried their burden of showing that the risk of pain from maladministration of a concededly humane lethal injection protocol , and the failure to adopt untried and untested alternatives , constitute cruel and unusual punishment , '' Roberts said . His opinion had the support of only two other justices . Three others agreed with the outcome but wrote separate concurring opinions . Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter dissented . Ginsburg said Kentucky failed to consider `` readily available safeguards '' to ensure inmates were not subject to pain . She urged the state to revise its procedures , which she suggested might create `` an untoward , readily avoidable risk of inflicting severe and unnecessary pain . '' Baze , 52 , admits killing Powell County Sheriff Steve Bennett and Deputy Arthur Briscoe in 1992 while the lawmen were trying to serve him with arrest warrants . Bowling was convicted of killing Edward and Tina Earley in Louisville in 1990 . Their 2-year-old son was wounded in the attack in the couple 's dry cleaning business parking lot . Bowling 's lawyers have claimed prosecutorial misconduct and say their client has a low IQ . State officials have said that their lethal-injection procedures are in line with other states and that a doctor is on site and available to provide any pre-execution medical care to the inmate . A Texas inmate was put to death the day the high court accepted the Kentucky cases in late September , but since then , the justices have stepped in and imposed a de facto moratorium nationwide . Only 26 people were executed last year , the lowest total in more than a decade . No executions have taken place this year . The justices spent nearly six months debating the threshold when execution procedures become unconstitutional . Both sides of this politically charged national debate were hoping for clear guidelines from the Supreme Court to help guide capital inmates and the courts . Different states and different judges have applied different standards over whether an inmate can make a challenge to the method of execution . Recent executions in Florida and Ohio were rife with problems , taking much longer than expected when technicians had trouble inserting IVs into the prisoners ' veins . The Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that prisoners could make last-ditch legal challenges to the method of execution , using claims that they would suffer a painful death . `` The question before the court was how much risk of unnecessary pain is too much risk of unnecessary pain under the Constitution , '' said Edward Lazarus , an appellate attorney and Supreme Court legal analyst . `` There is evidence to show that this is somewhat of an inhumane way to approach this , but there 's going to be a group of justices who really think we should n't be in the business of micro-managing the death penalty , [ who say ] if state legislatures think that this is OK , that 's going to be fine with us . '' The case is Baze and Bowling v. Rees ( 07-5439 ) . E-mail to a friend .
7 - 1 majority , upheld Florida 's use of lethal injection ` ` cocktail '' is constitutional . High Court said Method -- used in some 35 states -- is not ` ` cruel or unusual '' The immediate benefit of ruling is that it will allow states to resume executions . Recent lethal injection executions in Florida and Ohio had technical problems .