Columbia, South Carolina - The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that executions by firing squad and electrocution are legal if requested by the person on death row.

Wednesday's ruling concerned a 2021 South Carolina law enabling executions by firing squad and electrocution due to a shortage of lethal injection drugs and past botched execution attempts.

The measure prompted a lawsuit from people on death row, who had argued that the law violated the state constitution's prohibition against cruel, corporal, or unusual punishment.

South Carolina's Supreme Court rejected the characterization of the two execution methods as unconstitutionally cruel.

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"We start by acknowledging the reality that there is simply no elegant way to kill a man," Justice John Few wrote in the majority opinion, claiming that allowing people to choose between one of three execution methods makes the process more humane.

"The inescapable reality that an execution by any method may not go as planned – that it will be 'botched' – does not render the method 'cruel' under the constitution," he wrote.

The Richland County Circuit Court previously ruled in favor of the challenge, a decision that has now been reversed.

"The Supreme Court has rightfully upheld the rule of law," Republican Governor Henry McMaster said Wednesday. "This decision is another step in ensuring that lawful sentences can be duly enforced and the families and loved ones of the victims receive the closure and justice they have long awaited."

The ACLU of South Carolina's Executive Director Jace Woodrum, meanwhile, has condemned the decision and called for the abolition of the death penalty: "The death penalty has no place in our society or under our Constitution. Execution is a costly, ineffective form of cruel and unusual punishment that not only fails to make us safer but raises the possibility of the state killing innocent people in our name."

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According to the Death Penalty Information Center, just eight states permit execution by electrocution, while only five states allow execution by firing squad.

Executions are expected to resume in the Palmetto State following this week's ruling.

The last execution carried out in South Carolina took place in 2011. There are 32 people currently on death row in the state.