The US Supreme Court has banned the state of Alabama from carrying out executions using nitrogen gas. A lower court had previously ruled the method unconstitutional. The Supreme Court declined to lift an injunction blocking the state from carrying out the nation’s ninth nitrogen gas execution. The decision spared death row inmate Jeffery Lee from execution on Thursday evening.
A spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections said the execution was canceled and the state would not use another method. The ruling ended an extraordinary legal dispute over the humanity of the method.
“Unbearable suffering” feared
Lee had sued, arguing that the trial violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Federal judge Emily Marks initially classified the method as constitutional in May.
But a three-judge panel of a federal appeals court overturned that decision on Monday. It said the up to three minutes it could take for a detainee to lose consciousness was an “unbearable” amount of time given the suffering expected.
Other methods of execution remain possible
Judge Marks then reassessed the case and agreed with that assessment on Tuesday. The state then appealed to the Supreme Court, which denied the request to carry out the execution.
However, Marks did not prohibit Alabama from executing Lee using one of the other approved methods – the electric chair or lethal injection. It remained unclear how quickly the state could switch to another method.
Alabama has used nitrogen gas executions since 2024. The condemned person is put on a mask through which only nitrogen is supplied. The lack of oxygen ultimately leads to death. Critics primarily express concerns about the length of time until unconsciousness occurs. (DAP)
