The U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of execution for Alabama inmate Anthony Boyd late on Oct. 23, over the dissent of three justices.
The nation’s highest court declined Boyd’s request for a temporary reprieve in an unsigned order. The court did not explain its decision.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson filed a dissenting opinion, in which they said that the planned method of execution—nitrogen hypoxia—was cruel and unusual punishment forbidden by the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment.
The execution protocol requires that a gas mask be strapped over the condemned person’s face to replace breathable air with nitrogen gas, causing death within minutes….