Maryland has officially ended its moratorium on the death penalty. The new Governor, Republican Robert Ehrlich, has authorized Judges to begin signing death warrants. The first to be signed will be that for inmate Steven Oken.

The Governor's action lifting the moratorium flies in the face of a new study demonstrating that "of the 12 men awaiting execution in Maryland, nine, including Oken, are from Baltimore County. Eight are black, and all were convicted of killing whites."

It's not just a question of factual innocence. Also at issue are fairness in the application of the death penalty, and the arbitrariness with which it is sought.

Maryland was the only other state besides Illinois that had issued a moratorium.

"Before his own seat is even warm, Maryland's new Republican governor has announced he will keep his campaign promise to lift his predecessor's moratorium on the imposition of the death penalty with the flippant comment by his spokesperson, 'Consider the moratorium over.' "We perhaps should not be surprised, but in light of the independent study in his own state showing serious racial and geographic disparity in the imposition of the death penalty and the recent exposition in Illinois of all that is wrong with it, we certainly are dismayed."