Supreme Court rules Alabama may not execute an inmate without his pastor present

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/12/politics/supreme-court-alabama-inmate-ruling/index.html

The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the execution of an Alabama inmate, Willie B. Smith III, who said he wanted his spiritual adviser present in the execution chamber.

Alabama had asked the justices to reverse a lower court ruling and allow the execution to proceed without the adviser present in the chamber.

The court denied the request.

The exact vote count was unclear, although Justice Elena Kagan -- joined by Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor -- wrote to explain why they voted to block the execution.

Kagan said that the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals was "right to bar Alabama from executing Smith without his pastor by his side" and she rejected security concerns put forward by the Alabama Department of Corrections.

"The law guarantees Smith the right to practice his faith free from unnecessary interference, including at the moment the State puts him to death," Kagan wrote.

She said Alabama could take "any number of measures" to make sure that a clergy member will act responsibly during an execution, including doing a background check on the minister.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh explained why they would have granted Alabama's request, citing the state's security concerns.

Justice Clarence Thomas did not join that opinion but he simply noted he too would have granted Alabama's request. Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch were silent as to their vote.

Smith is on death row for the 1991 murder of 22-year-old Sharma Ruth Johnson, who he shot in the head as she swore not to reveal his crimes, according to court papers.

Do you agree with the ruling? Which justice's position is the most surprising? Which Justice's position is the least surprising?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

My guess is that it was 5-4 with Gorsuch and Barrett joining the liberals. I can't see Alito departing from the hang-'em-high mentality.

I agree with the ruling entirely and am not surprised by any justice's position.

[Torie]

Strange case. Why did not the executioners want to allow a pastor in the room?

[NewYorkExpress]

My guess is that it was 5-4 with Gorsuch and Barrett joining the liberals. I can't see Alito departing from the hang-'em-high mentality.

I agree with the ruling entirely and am not surprised by any justice's position.

This is actually the kind of case I would have thought we'd come relatively close to a unanimous court (maybe a lonely dissent from Alito/Thomas). I'm actually surprised Roberts and Kavanaugh dissented here, as they are both strong pro-religion judges, and of the judges in the majority, I'd bet neither Gorsuch nor Coney Barrett were actually opposed to letting the execution go ahead, just to not having the pastor in the execution chamber.

[brucejoel99]

Ideally, we'd just save the Court's time by getting rid of state-sanctioned murder like the rest of the civilized world.

[Kingpoleon]

Strange case. Why did not the executioners want to allow a pastor in the room?

Security reasons. I talked to the man’s wife, and she is convinced he is innocent and desires a pastor to bless him as an innocent life is taken.

[Sestak]

My guess is that it was 5-4 with Gorsuch and Barrett joining the liberals. I can't see Alito departing from the hang-'em-high mentality.

I agree with the ruling entirely and am not surprised by any justice's position.

This is actually the kind of case I would have thought we'd come relatively close to a unanimous court (maybe a lonely dissent from Alito/Thomas). I'm actually surprised Roberts and Kavanaugh dissented here, as they are both strong pro-religion judges, and of the judges in the majority, I'd bet neither Gorsuch nor Coney Barrett were actually opposed to letting the execution go ahead, just to not having the pastor in the execution chamber.

Robert’s and Kavanaugh are two very strong law and order types, along with Alito.

Gorsuch, along with Thomas some of the time have seemed to be the most likely to deviate from that orthodoxy; in that regard this case primarily splits more like a criminal justice case than a religious one.

There are some reasons to believe Barrett might also fall into the latter basket, though given the religious conflating element here there shouldn’t be any extrapolation from this case. (As I’ve said elsewhere, less of Barrett’s jurisprudential style was known/guessable when she was nominated than pretty much every other nominee this century, so there’s still a lot to be seen).

[Donerail]

Strange case. Why did not the executioners want to allow a pastor in the room?

Security reasons. I talked to the man’s wife, and she is convinced he is innocent and desires a Buddhist priest to bless him as an innocent life is taken.

I believe you are confusing this case with Murphy v. Collier (2019), which was a 6-3 decision in favor of a Buddhist inmate in Texas. Willie Smith, the inmate in this case, is a devout Christian who wanted his pastor with him.

The mystery here is that both Alito and Gorsuch have previously expressed skepticism that the statute Smith relied on would allow inmates to bring spiritual advisers into the death chamber because of that security issue; Alito mentioned it in his dissent in Murphy, which Gorsuch joined. Assume Gorsuch was more likely to join the liberals here, but nevertheless a reversal from his position two years ago.

[Kingpoleon]

I believe you are confusing this case with Murphy v. Collier (2019), which was a 6-3 decision in favor of a Buddhist inmate in Texas. Willie Smith, the inmate in this case, is a devout Christian who wanted his pastor with him.

The mystery here is that both Alito and Gorsuch have previously expressed skepticism that the statute Smith relied on would allow inmates to bring spiritual advisers into the death chamber because of that security issue; Alito mentioned it in his dissent in Murphy, which Gorsuch joined. Assume Gorsuch was more likely to join the liberals here, but nevertheless a reversal from his position two years ago.

I just reread our messages, as it was a couple months ago. You are correct - she refers to someone as “Pastor Wiley”, and then explains about the Buddhist priest in Murphy.

[Greedo punched first]

Likely 5-4. Alito likely secretly dissented.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

If memory serves, SCOTUS ruled in a different matter on a case involving a Muslim inmate who wanted his imam present for his execution. The Court ruled against him on a technical matter, alleging that he didn't follow proper procedure for requesting an imam or having one admitted to the execution chamber with him. But I highly doubt a Muslim inmate would receive the same treatment as a Christian one.

That notwithstanding, I agree entirely with this ruling and hope that it is applied consistently.

[Kingpoleon]

If memory serves, SCOTUS ruled in a different matter on a case involving a Muslim inmate who wanted his imam present for his execution. The Court ruled against him on a technical matter, alleging that he didn't follow proper procedure for requesting an imam or having one admitted to the execution chamber with him. But I highly doubt a Muslim inmate would receive the same treatment as a Christian one.

That notwithstanding, I agree entirely with this ruling and hope that it is applied consistently.

This is actually the third case on the matter, and the first two were about non-Christians.