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

[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.

[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.

[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.