Clayton Lockett's botched execution in April may have left a sour aftertaste about the increasingly shady business of executing criminals in America, but it's not clear that it has changed any part of the process. Today, in the case of Russell Bucklew, the Supreme Court is taking another look at the messy circumstances of capital punishment.

Last week, Clayton Lockett, a convicted killer, died strapped to a table in Oklahoma, but nothing else about it went as planned. The widespread public queasiness which followed infected even some steadfast supporters of the death penalty, leading to hopes for reform. Are those hopes misplaced?