Supreme Court Blocks Alabama Nitrogen Execution

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to let Alabama execute death row inmate Jeffery Lee by nitrogen gas, leaving in place lower-court rulings that found the method likely unconstitutional.

In a brief, unsigned order issued shortly after 9 p.m. EDT, the justices turned down the state's emergency request to carry out Lee's execution as scheduled, SCOTUSblog reported. As is typical of orders on its emergency docket, the court gave no explanation. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch said they would have granted the state's request.

A week of setbacks for the state

The order capped a week of defeats for Alabama. On June 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit found that nitrogen hypoxia — in which a mask is placed over a prisoner's face and he breathes pure nitrogen until dying from a lack of oxygen — carries "a substantial risk of serious harm," according to SCOTUSblog. The panel pointed to one to three minutes of "severe air hunger and corresponding emotional distress" and sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Emily Marks.

The three-judge panel — Adalberto Jordan, an Obama appointee; Embry Kidd, a Biden appointee; and Robert Luck, a Trump appointee — ruled unanimously, the Alabama Reflector reported. Marks then determined that a firing squad, which Lee had proposed as an alternative, would be a feasible and less painful method, and she barred the state from using nitrogen gas.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall called the high court's action a "miscarriage of justice" and said the state was "prepared to do whatever is necessary to see Mr Lee's lawful sentence carried out," according to The Guardian. The state's solicitor general, A. Barrett Bowdre, had told the justices that letting the lower-court rulings stand "would be unprecedented in American history."

A jury voted for life

Lee, 49, was convicted of killing a pawn shop owner and an employee during a 1998 robbery. At his trial, the jury voted 7-5 to sentence him to life in prison without parole, but the judge overrode that recommendation and imposed a death sentence in 2000, the Alabama Reflector reported. Alabama abolished judicial override in 2017 but did not make the change retroactive.

"His jury voted for life. Two courts ruled the method unconstitutional. Today, the constitution prevailed," Lee's legal team said in a statement, according to The Guardian.

The decision does not free Lee or end his death sentence, and Alabama officials have signaled they will keep fighting to preserve nitrogen executions. The Supreme Court's intervention is similar to other capital cases it has weighed this term, including one in which it sided with a Mississippi death row inmate over the exclusion of Black jurors. In another recent case, federal prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty against a Minnesota shooting suspect.

A contested method

Nitrogen gas has been used in eight U.S. executions — seven in Alabama and one in Louisiana — since Alabama carried out the first such execution in early 2024, The Guardian reported. Witnesses to several of those executions described prisoners shuddering, gasping and straining against restraints for minutes, accounts the state has disputed. Marshall has previously called the first nitrogen execution "textbook."

A Supreme Court ruling on the merits could reach beyond Alabama to the other states that have authorized nitrogen executions: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma. For now, the lower-court rulings barring the method remain in force only in Alabama.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did the Supreme Court actually decide?

The court did not rule on whether nitrogen executions are constitutional. It declined Alabama's emergency request to lift lower-court orders blocking the execution of Jeffery Lee, leaving those orders in place without explanation.

What is nitrogen hypoxia?

Nitrogen hypoxia is an execution method in which a mask is fitted over the prisoner's face and he breathes pure nitrogen, causing death by oxygen deprivation. Alabama first used it in 2024.

Why did the lower courts block it?

The 11th Circuit found the method created a substantial risk of serious harm, citing one to three minutes of "severe air hunger" and emotional distress. A district judge ruled a firing squad would be a feasible, less painful alternative.

Does this end Jeffery Lee's death sentence?

No. The order blocks this execution but does not overturn Lee's conviction or sentence. Alabama officials have said they will continue seeking to carry out the sentence.

Sources

Reporting compiled from court records and the cited source outlets.