So what’s the difference between Kaine’s “reprieve” and McDonnell’s “moratorium?” In practice, nothing. But in the fight over the death penalty, a reprieve by any other name just doesn’t rile the pro-death penalty crowd as readily.

“To call it a moratorium is what the political opponents of Kaine called it,” says Jon Sheldon, board president of Virginians Against the Death Penalty. “I think to use the word ‘moratorium’ is sort of a buzzword for the Republicans to use to attack Kaine for being prudent. The Republicans know that it’s a good buzzword because it’ll get their constituency all in a lather.”

And even though Virginia’s execution machine as been fired up once again after the Court’s decision on Baze v. Rees, Sheldon says that Baze opens Virginia’s lethal injection process to the same kind of procedural challenges that were brought in Baze.

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