Supreme Court Blocks Alabama From Executing Inmate Using Nitrogen Gas
The New York Times • • nation
Key Points:
- The Supreme Court blocked Alabama from using nitrogen gas to execute convicted murderer Jeffery Lee, rejecting the state's last-minute appeal after lower courts deemed the method likely unconstitutional.
- The unsigned Supreme Court decision included no explanation, with dissent from three conservative justices: Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito Jr., and Neil Gorsuch.
- Alabama had planned to execute Lee at 6 p.m. Thursday, which would have been the state's eighth and the nation's ninth execution using nitrogen hypoxia, a method Alabama pioneered in 2024.
- The ruling marks a rare last-minute intervention by the Supreme Court to halt an execution, as the court typically receives such emergency requests from inmates rather than state officials.
- Lee’s lawyers hailed the decision as a constitutional victory, emphasizing that two courts had ruled the nitrogen hypoxia method unconstitutional.