In the wake of a ruling by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals vacating a federal judge’s stay of executions in Missouri, Attorney General Jay Nixon (D-MO) is moving forward with efforts to have several convicted killers executed. He’s filed motions with the State Supreme Court requesting execution dates be set for ten capital punishment inmates.

The stay had been issued, last year, by Federal Judge Fernando Gaitan amid concerns that Missouri’s method of execution – lethal injection – might constitute cruel and unusual punishment, but a three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court ruled lethal injection does not violate the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.