{"id":181,"date":"2026-06-12T04:13:54","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T04:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181"},"modified":"2026-06-12T04:13:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T04:13:54","slug":"court-denies-alabamas-request-to-allow-execution-using-nitrogen-gas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181","title":{"rendered":"Court denies Alabama’s request to allow execution using nitrogen gas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Updated on June 11 at 9:28 p.m.<\/em><\/p>\n

Alabama\u00a0came to the Supreme Court\u00a0on Thursday morning,\u00a0\u00a0the justices to allow the execution of Jeffery Lee to proceed as scheduled on Thursday night. The lower courts have\u00a0\u00a0the 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 Court unanimously sides with defendant in criminal venue dispute over where a crime occurs<\/a><\/p>\n

In a brief, unsigned sent to reporters shortly after 9 p.m. EDT, the court turned down Alabama’s request to allow the execution to proceed as scheduled. As is often the case with orders on its emergency docket, the court did not provide any explanation for its decision. Three justices \u2013 Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch \u2013 indicated that they would have granted the state’s request.<\/p>\n

Lee was convicted of the 1998 robbery and murders of a pawn shop owner and employee. The jury at Lee\u2019s trial recommended, by a vote of 7-5, to sentence him to life in prison without the possibility of parole, but the judge at Lee\u2019s trial overrode that recommendation and sentenced Lee to death.<\/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\u00a0\u00a0Marks\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

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

Read more Alabama asks Supreme Court to allow execution using nitrogen gas<\/a><\/p>\n

In a submitted on Thursday afternoon, Lee\u2019s lawyers urged the justices to deny the state\u2019s request. His lead counsel, Paige Sharpe, argued that the order prohibiting the state from using nitrogen hypoxia \u201ccan and should be reviewed through the ordinary appellate process. What cannot be corrected\u2014what no subsequent ruling can undo\u2014is an execution by unconstitutional means, carried out before the appellate process concludes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee\u2019s legal team further argued that the district court\u2019s order permanently barring the state from using nitrogen hypoxia was based on a \u201cfull three-day bench trial on the merits,\u201d which included 11 witnesses \u201cas well as hundreds of exhibits totaling thousands of pages.\u201d Although the state framed its filing in the Supreme Court as a request to pause the lower court\u2019s ruling, his lawyers wrote, \u201cthe relief it seeks, if obtained, would be permanent.\u201d And the state has \u201cnot cited a single<\/em> case in which this Court has intervened in a capital case in such an extraordinary way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee also pushed back against the state\u2019s argument that the risks of discomfort from nitrogen hypoxia are similar to those from other methods of execution that the Constitution permits. \u201cWhen carried out correctly,\u201d he said, \u201celectrocution, lethal injection, and hanging involve little to no pain.\u201d \u201cExecution by nitrogen asphyxiation is different,\u201d he continued. \u201c[T]he suffering is not the result of the execution having gone awry, but when the execution works exactly as designed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover, Lee added, there is no merit to Alabama\u2019s contention that it is not feasible to adopt the firing squad as a method of execution. \u201cAlabama has modified its execution statute and trained personnel to accommodate new methods before. It can do so again. That it may take time and resources to implement such a protocol does not make firing squad infeasible either.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen Vladeck, a Georgetown University law professor,\u00a0\u00a0in which he urged the justices to deny the state\u2019s request. Vladeck argued, like Lee, 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

As a result of Thursday\u2019s order from the court, Alabama will continue to be barred from executing Lee using nitrogen hypoxia.<\/p>\n

Read more Protecting the justices<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated on June 11 at 9:28 p.m. Alabama\u00a0came to the Supreme Court\u00a0on Thursday morning,\u00a0\u00a0the justices to allow the execution of Jeffery Lee to proceed as scheduled on Thursday night. The lower courts have\u00a0\u00a0the state from using nitrogen hypoxia to execute Lee, calling that method \u2013 in which a mask is placed over the prisoner\u2019s face […]<\/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-181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-court-news"],"yoast_head":"\nCourt denies Alabama's request 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=181\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Court denies Alabama's request to allow execution using nitrogen gas - American Service Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Updated on June 11 at 9:28 p.m. Alabama\u00a0came to the Supreme Court\u00a0on Thursday morning,\u00a0\u00a0the justices to allow the execution of Jeffery Lee to proceed as scheduled on Thursday night. The lower courts have\u00a0\u00a0the state from using nitrogen hypoxia to execute Lee, calling that method \u2013 in which a mask is placed over the prisoner\u2019s face […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Service Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-12T04:13:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=181#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=181\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/220bfdac1627513926924476de32dedb\"},\"headline\":\"Court denies Alabama’s request to allow execution using nitrogen gas\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-12T04:13:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=181\"},\"wordCount\":1110,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=181#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/ae69bbf7047311cba9db795d94cb3c0d.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"COURT NEWS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=181#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=181\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=181\",\"name\":\"Court denies Alabama's request to allow execution using nitrogen gas - American Service Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=181#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=181#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/ae69bbf7047311cba9db795d94cb3c0d.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-12T04:13:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/220bfdac1627513926924476de32dedb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=181#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=181\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=181#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/ae69bbf7047311cba9db795d94cb3c0d.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/ae69bbf7047311cba9db795d94cb3c0d.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":627},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=181#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Court denies Alabama’s request to allow execution using nitrogen gas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Service Review\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/220bfdac1627513926924476de32dedb\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Court denies Alabama's request to allow execution using nitrogen gas - American Service Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Court denies Alabama's request to allow execution using nitrogen gas - American Service Review","og_description":"Updated on June 11 at 9:28 p.m. Alabama\u00a0came to the Supreme Court\u00a0on Thursday morning,\u00a0\u00a0the justices to allow the execution of Jeffery Lee to proceed as scheduled on Thursday night. The lower courts have\u00a0\u00a0the state from using nitrogen hypoxia to execute Lee, calling that method \u2013 in which a mask is placed over the prisoner\u2019s face […]","og_url":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181","og_site_name":"American Service Review","article_published_time":"2026-06-12T04:13:54+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/220bfdac1627513926924476de32dedb"},"headline":"Court denies Alabama’s request to allow execution using nitrogen gas","datePublished":"2026-06-12T04:13:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181"},"wordCount":1110,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ae69bbf7047311cba9db795d94cb3c0d.jpg","articleSection":["COURT NEWS"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181","url":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181","name":"Court denies Alabama's request to allow execution using nitrogen gas - American Service Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ae69bbf7047311cba9db795d94cb3c0d.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-12T04:13:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/220bfdac1627513926924476de32dedb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ae69bbf7047311cba9db795d94cb3c0d.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ae69bbf7047311cba9db795d94cb3c0d.jpg","width":1200,"height":627},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=181#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Court denies Alabama’s request to allow execution using nitrogen gas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/","name":"American Service Review","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/220bfdac1627513926924476de32dedb","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/americanservicereview.com"],"url":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/68"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}