{"id":179,"date":"2026-06-11T19:11:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T19:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=179"},"modified":"2026-06-11T19:11:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T19:11:33","slug":"alabama-asks-supreme-court-to-allow-execution-using-nitrogen-gas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=179","title":{"rendered":"Alabama asks Supreme Court to allow execution using nitrogen gas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Alabama came to the Supreme Court on Thursday morning, the justices to allow the execution of Jeffery Lee, who was sentenced to death for the 1998 robbery and murder of a pawn shop owner and employee, to proceed as scheduled on Thursday night. The lower courts have the state from using nitrogen hypoxia to execute Lee, calling that method \u2013 in which a mask is placed over the prisoner\u2019s face and he breathes nitrogen until he passes out and then dies because of the lack of oxygen \u2013 \u201clikely unconstitutional.\u201d But Alabama\u2019s solicitor general, A. Barrett Bowdre, told the justices that \u201cthe risk of \u2018breathing difficulty or breathing discomfort\u2019 from nitrogen hypoxia does not rise to the level of a severe pain that violates the\u201d Eighth Amendment\u2019s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.<\/p>\n

Read more Protecting the justices<\/a><\/p>\n

Lee filed his challenge to the state\u2019s use of nitrogen hypoxia last year. U.S. District Judge Emily Marks initially rejected his Eighth Amendment claim, writing that any discomfort from the use of nitrogen hypoxia does not violate the amendment. She suggested that \u201cexecutions presume a risk of some pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

On June 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit Marks\u2019 decision and sent the case back for her to take another look. It reasoned that \u201c[t]here is \u2026 a substantial risk of serious harm\u201d from nitrogen hypoxia because the use of that method, based on findings by the district court, will lead to \u201cone to three minutes of \u2018severe air hunger and corresponding emotional distress, anxiety, physiological stress, and physical discomfort.\u2019\u201d \u201cSuch suffering,\u201d the court of appeals concluded, \u201cis over and above the mental distress that typically accompanies the knowledge of impending death by execution.\u201d<\/p>\n

One day later, the district court determined that a firing squad, which Lee proposed as an alternative execution method, would be a safer alternative to nitrogen hypoxia because it produces a painless death. Marks prohibited the state from using nitrogen hypoxia to execute Lee, and the court of appeals declined to put that decision on hold.<\/p>\n

Read more Opinions on the way<\/a><\/p>\n

Alabama came to the Supreme Court shortly thereafter, asking the justices to intervene. Bowdre argued that allowing the lower courts\u2019 decisions to stand \u201cwould be unprecedented in American history. Not only does it portend the first-ever permanent ban on a legislatively enacted method\u201d of execution, \u201cbut it would expand the concept of cruelty well beyond the bounds of the Eighth Amendment\u201d by relying on the emotional distress that Lee alleges nitrogen hypoxia will cause.<\/p>\n

In reality, the state stressed, any risks from nitrogen hypoxia \u201cwould amount to no more discomfort than that caused by other constitutional methods of execution.\u201d But even if the court of appeals were correct \u201cthat nitrogen hypoxia presents a substantial risk of harm,\u201d Lee cannot show that the firing squad is the kind of readily available alternative required by the Supreme Court\u2019s cases when challenging a method of execution. The firing squad\u2019s \u201cadvantages are not \u2018clear and considerable,\u2019\u201d Bowdre contended, and it would be a difficult and time-consuming method of execution for the state to implement.<\/p>\n

Stephen Vladeck, a Georgetown University law professor, in which he urged the justices to deny the state\u2019s request. Vladeck emphasized that Alabama is asking the court to lift a permanent, rather than temporary, ban on the use of nitrogen hypoxia. As a result, he said, Alabama\u2019s filing as a practical matter asks the justices to \u201cset aside a final judgment on the merits and clear the way for an execution. That is tantamount to a request for summary reversal, which \u2026 properly\u201d should be treated as a request for review of the lower court\u2019s decision, rather than for emergency relief, and which is subject to a significantly more stringent standard than Alabama is invoking.<\/p>\n

Read more Announcement of opinions for Thursday, June 11<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alabama came to the Supreme Court on Thursday morning, the justices to allow the execution of Jeffery Lee, who was sentenced to death for the 1998 robbery and murder of a pawn shop owner and employee, to proceed as scheduled on Thursday night. The lower courts have the state from using nitrogen hypoxia to execute […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-court-news"],"yoast_head":"\nAlabama asks Supreme Court to allow execution using nitrogen gas - American Service Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=179\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alabama asks Supreme Court to allow execution using nitrogen gas - American Service Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alabama came to the Supreme Court on Thursday morning, the justices to allow the execution of Jeffery Lee, who was sentenced to death for the 1998 robbery and murder of a pawn shop owner and employee, to proceed as scheduled on Thursday night. 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