Heckler v. Chaney

Death-row inmates sentenced to die by lethal injection in Oklahoma and Texas (plaintiffs) petitioned the FDA, arguing the drugs used for their executions had never been approved by the agency for that use, and that the states' use of them for executions violated the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act (FDCA). The inmates asked the FDA to take investigatory and enforcement action, but the FDA refused. The inmates then sued the Secretary of Health and Human Services (defendant) in federal court seeking the same relief, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.