Morales v. California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation
California Court of Appeal
85 Cal. Rptr. 3d 724 (2008)
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and its Secretary (defendants) issued a lethal-injection execution protocol (OP 770) implementing a state statute defaulting condemned inmates to lethal injection unless they chose lethal gas, without following the notice-and-comment rulemaking process of the California Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Condemned inmates Morales and Sims (plaintiffs) challenged OP 770 on this ground, and the trial court granted them summary judgment, enjoining executions under OP 770 until it was properly promulgated; the defendants appealed.
Whether, under the California Administrative Procedure Act, a rule that does not apply universally has general applicability if it declares how a certain class of cases will be decided.