Nevada officials are racing to overturn a lower court’s decision blocking one of the three drugs scheduled for the execution of convicted killer Scott Dozier before one of the drugs expires in November.

Filings submitted by the attorney general’s office over the last week with the Nevada Supreme Court indicate a concern that any delay in the court ruling could result in a “pyrrhic” victory for the state, which could again be hampered in its attempt to execute Dozier after two previously scheduled executions were called off because of last-minute litigation.

Efforts to hurry the process have seen initial success — the Nevada Supreme Court granted an expedited schedule on Friday on an appeal of District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez’s decision to block use of the sedative midazolam, produced by the pharmaceutical giant Alvogen, in the execution. The state is also being boosted by Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson’s office, which filed a supportive amicus brief arguing that even if the state was guilty of “subterfuge” in obtaining the drugs, it was immune from civil litigation.

The court gave the respondents 20 days to file an answer, and another 11 days for a response from the state. It also prohibited any extensions of time from being granted and promised to “expedite the resolution of this petition to the extent that its docket allows.”

The hastened schedule will be critical for the state to carry out the execution before another part of its planned three-drug lethal cocktail, the paralytic Cisatracurium, expires on Nov. 30. To comply with legislatively set deadlines for execution warrants, Deputy Solicitor General Jordan Smith wrote in a filing last week that the court would need to issue an order before the week of Oct. 19 to Oct. 26.

“A drug expiration may also force the State to find a substitute drug yet again, and this seemingly endless capital litigation process will start anew with another trudge to this Court,” Smith wrote. “Even a ruling that comes after some (but not all) drugs expire will have an accordion effect that will deplete the State’s supply and impair the State’s ability to complete other capital sentences following Dozier.”

Under the order, both parties will need to submit their filings by Aug. 30, giving the court a roughly two-and-a-half month window in which to hear the case and make a decision.

The appeal comes almost two weeks after judges granted a last-minute motion for a restraining order by Alvogen to block use of midazolam just hours before Dozier’s second scheduled execution earlier in July. Gonzalez, in her ruling, said the company had established a reasonable probability that it would “suffer damages to its business reputation, which will impact investor relations and customer relations.”

Dozier, 47, has voluntarily given up appeals on his death sentence from the murder of 22-year-old Jeremiah Miller, who was found mutilated and decapitated in a Las Vegas apartment complex dumpster in 2002. Dozier was also convicted of 2nd degree murder in Arizona before his Nevada death sentence was issued. He would be the first person executed in Nevada in more than a decade.

Although Gonzalez’s decision wasn’t strictly a stay of the execution and only blocked use of the drug, Smith wrote in the state’s initial appeal to the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the “real-world consequence” of her decision was that the execution couldn’t go forward — which appeared to violate a state law governing the specific circumstances when and where a judge could halt an execution.

“The District Court also accepted Alvogen’s boilerplate concerns about business reputational harm and bad press,” Smith wrote in the filing. “In doing so, the TRO put the interests of Big Pharma over the interests of Nevada’s capital murder victims.”

The state’s filing also noted that the section of law cited by Alvogen in District Court to justify their motion came from a 2007 law designed to create civil liability for a person or organization that supplies alcohol or other controlled substance unknowingly. Minutes from legislative hearings on the bill described it as a way to curb underage substance abuse, not to provide drug companies with a pathway to sue the state.

“The Legislature enacted the statute to provide a remedy to anyone that a minor hurts after being knowingly plied with alcohol or controlled substances in a social setting,” Smith wrote. “The social hosting problems that prompted NRS 41.700 are a far cry from Alvogen’s claims in this lawsuit.”

A representative for Alvogen said the company planned to comply with the court's order

The state’s filing also pointed out that Midazolam had been used in around 33 executions, including 28 before Alvogen began selling generic versions of the drug in August 2017.

A supporting amicus brief filed by the Clark County district attorney’s office argued that even if the drug company’s allegations were correct, Nevada was protected from civil litigation related to the death penalty as its actions were covered under the doctrine of sovereign immunity.

“Even if (Nevada Department of Corrections) used subterfuge to acquire Alvogen’s product, such a discretionary judgment call would be a legitimate choice in light of decisions by Alvogen and other drug companies ‘to refuse to supply the drugs used to carry out death sentences,’” Chief Deputy District Attorney Jonathan VanBoskerck wrote in the filing.

VanBoskerck also cited an earlier delay in Dozier’s execution brought on by a decision to enjoin the use of cisatracurium in the execution, and the state Supreme Court’s reversal soon afterward.

“Really, the only thing that has changed is that the Eighth Judicial District Court has moved from ignoring this Court’s precedent to disregarding the will of the Legislature. Neither of these are permissible in a democracy governed by the rule of law.”

Updated at 8:18 a.m. to include a response from an Alvogen spokesperson.