The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for Alabama, Mississippi and Texas to set new execution dates for three inmates who were granted last-minute reprieves by the justices last year.

The court turned down appeals Monday from three inmates, after blocking their executions last fall while it considered a challenge to Kentucky's lethal injection procedures. The justices said those procedures are not unconstitutionally cruel.

Roughly three dozen states, including Virginia, use three drugs to put to sleep, paralyze and kill inmates. Critics of the procedures have said that if the first drug is administered incorrectly or in an insufficient dosage, the inmate could suffer excruciating pain from the other two drugs. But because the second drug is a paralytic, he would be unable to express his discomfort.

Last week, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine lifted his moratorium on executions after the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injections. Kaine had put all Virginia executions on hold April 1.