One state at a time...

The US state of Washington has officially abolished the death penalty:

Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 5087 on Friday, which removes state laws that Washington’s Supreme Court determined are invalid or unconstitutional. The state’s high court struck down the death penalty in 2018, but the law remained on the books.

“It’s official. The death penalty is no longer in state law,” Inslee said on Twitter after the signing. He also thanked legislators and other leaders who were part of the decade-long effort to end the practice, including Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

In 2014, Inslee issued a moratorium on the death penalty. In 2018, Washington’s Supreme Court unanimously struck down the death penalty, calling it arbitrary and racially biased.

Given the tendency of US courts to just change their minds on settled law when Republicans stack them, repeal seems like a useful extra safeguard. But really, they need to start putting death penalty bans (and death penalty non-cooperation clauses) in state constitutions, just to be on the safe side.