Define Conservatives vs. Liberals

Will Alito be as conservative as many liberals feared now that he's the final decision make on life or death issues like this one? So far --surprisingly -- no.

Supreme Court Fuels Death Penalty Debate - Yahoo! News

The Supreme Court last considered a related case in 2004. An Alabama death row inmate had claimed that his damaged veins would require prison doctors to cut deep into his flesh to deliver the chemicals. He won the right to pursue his claim in a limited ruling by Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor and still is pressing his case.



O'Connor retired on Tuesday and was replaced by Justice
Samuel Alito, whose first case was the death penalty appeal from Missouri. He broke ranks with the court's conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices
Antonin Scalia and
Clarence Thomas, who voted to allow the execution of Michael Taylor. They were outvoted by Alito and the court's more liberal members.