The proposal would add a new section to the state Constitution to “enshrine” the death penalty in Oklahoma. Although the state’s ability to carry out capital punishment has fallen into doubt in recent years, the death penalty already is well established in state law, a fact that is made obvious by the fact that we have put 111 murderers to death since 1990 and have another 48 people sitting on death row.

Those 48 earned their fate as far a we’re concerned, but SQ 776 won’t speed their progress to the state’s death chamber one bit.

What would the proposal do?

It would explicitly give the Legislature the power to designate any method of execution not prohibited by the United States Constitution. The Legislature already clearly has that authority. It would say that death sentences won’t be reduced if a method of execution is ruled invalid, which also seems like settled law. And it defines that the death penalty in general will not be considered cruel or unusual punishment, which is also a settled issue.

That makes SQ 776 essentially a “dang right!” proposition. It’s intended effect is to allow supporters of the death penalty to feel as if they have done something, even if they haven’t.

But there’s a problem with such symbolic votes.

The measure has no intended consequences, but the nature of unintended consequences is that they are unintended, and sometimes unpredictable. We do know this: Whenever the state messes with its death penalty law, it creates a new set of issues for inmates and their lawyers to test in court.

We can’t see that SQ 776 would have any effect on the likelihood of capital punishment being carried out in Oklahoma. Regardless of your position on the death penalty, there’s no need for this one.