Forward from Furman. Fifty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court briefly struck down the death penalty as “cruel and unusual punishment.” Then, as now, public support for capital punishment had waned amid questions about racial disparities and other problems. But there have been big changes in the legal and political landscape since Furman v. Georgia was decided in 1972. If its recent decisions are any indication, the Supreme Court itself is far more conservative and supportive of capital punishment. And several states since 1972 have stopped their “machinery of death” by outlawing capital sentences. In collaboration with The New York Times, Maurice Chammah has our story. The Marshall Project

“They’re not going to hurt me.” Former President Donald Trump angrily ordered U.S. Secret Service officials to make it easier for his armed right-wing supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol, a former White House aide testified on Tuesday. The Washington Post Trump also lashed out at one of his Secret Service agents when his security detail refused to drive him to the Capitol to bolster the coup attempt, Cassidy Hutchinson told lawmakers. The New York Times Who is Hutchinson? Slate More: Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sought a pardon after the Capitol riot. USA Today

“The border is closed, which is in part why you see people trying to make this dangerous journey using smuggling networks.” White House officials pushed back on claims by Republicans that the deaths of at least 50 people in a broiling trailer in Texas on Monday were a result of federal immigration policies. The Associated Press Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who blamed President Biden for the migrant deaths, made no such allegations when migrants died during the Trump era. The New York Times Related analysis: Conservative judges have stymied most of the Biden administration’s immigration efforts. Lawfare

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals played a role in the demise of Roe v. Wade. The conservative federal appeals court has been an incubator for far-right legal theories and judges hostile to abortion rights. Texas Monthly In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court protected access to abortions. Six years later, the reversal came with three Trump-nominated justices. Texas Tribune Related: More tales of prosecutors in Democratic cities in Republican states who say they won’t prosecute women or doctors over abortions. Politico Finally: How the end of Roe v. Wade will affect incarcerated women. MSNBC

“I don’t want to live and die and be forgotten.” Rita Chatterton was honored last year for her work decades ago as the World Wrestling Federation’s first female referee. She’s now ready to talk again, as she did 30 years ago, about a sexual assault that took place in 1986. Her rapist, she says, was Vince McMahon, the disgraced former head of the WWF (now the WWE). Here are new details and other evidence about the alleged attack. McMahon stepped down from his post earlier this month amid news reports that he paid millions to silence women who had relationships with him while they worked for him. New York Magazine

A federal judge in New York on Tuesday sentenced Ghislaine Maxwell to 20 years in prison for helping financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls. The Associated Press

Candidates who deny the results of the 2020 election are running throughout Colorado to try to take over local election offices this November. That would put them in positions of significant power over election procedures leading to the 2024 presidential election. Bolts More: Tina Peters, a Mesa County clerk, is also a conspiracy theorist. The New York Times

Teachers and other school staff have been armed in Utopia, Texas, for nearly a decade now. The small town can’t afford its own police officer, and school officials say they have broad community support for the effort. The Washington Post

Amid a push by Massachusetts lawmakers to halt all prison and jail construction, comes a new state report that calls for the construction of a new women’s prison. Boston Globe TMP Context: Reimagining prison with Frank Gehry. The Marshall Project

An Arkansas judge last week denied Damion Echols’ request for new DNA testing as the former West Memphis Three member presses for an exoneration 11 years after he was released from prison for a triple murder. CNN

“We will all become more afraid of one another, and reasonably so.” The U.S. Supreme Court’s gun ruling last week paints a particularly grim (and unsubstantiated) view of a society where danger lurks behind every shadow. The New York Review of Books More: The justices made life more difficult and dangerous for the police. New York Daily News

A former sex worker has some advice for California Gov. Gavin Newsom as he mulls signing a new measure. “Anti-loitering laws disproportionately affect Black, brown and trans people: people whose race, sexuality and gender are considered suspect, no matter their profession.” Los Angeles Times

Say her name: Shirley Wheeler. A woman went to jail for having an abortion in the 1970s. The stage is now set for that to happen again. The Washington Post More: “The right to abortion is not about the Constitution. Fundamentally, the question of whether women have a right to abortion in this country is a question of power.” Slate

The “dream” lives on. The children of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals initiative remain optimistic, and politically active, as they fight to keep their parents in the United States and to turn immigration reform into federal statutory law. The New York Times

“Tragic and wholly unacceptable.” Corrections officials in Georgia must do more to address gang violence and extortion behind bars. Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It’s sentencing day for R. Kelly. Federal prosecutors have asked for a prison term “in excess of 25 years” for the singer and sex trafficker convicted of racketeering and other crimes last year. The New York Times

Hope for the ailing and elderly behind bars. The U.S. Supreme Court may have just made it easier for federal prisoners to gain “compassionate release.” Sentencing Law and Policy

“If they come knocking on the door, what will I say, what will I do?” More than 230,000 people now have their movements tracked by immigration officials using an app owned and operated by the private prison company GEO Group, an alternative to ankle monitors or detention. The Markup

An “unspoken epidemic” no more. Homicide rates among Black women in 2020 rose slightly higher than the murder rates for Black men during that period, new analysis concludes. Gun violence drove the increase. The Guardian

A journalist, also a survivor of gun violence, on what it’s like to cover mass shootings. “If I sound negative or dire, this is because gun violence in this country is both of those things. Peace does not exist here — not while nothing continues to be done.” Los Angeles Times

Opening Statement curates timely articles on criminal justice and immigration; these links are not endorsements of specific articles or points of view.

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