Supreme Court prohibits Alabama from using nitrogen gas for execution

Source: NPR

Supreme Court prohibits Alabama from using nitrogen gas for execution

June 11, 2026 9:39 PM ET
By Grady Martin, Nina Totenberg


The Supreme Court
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

The Supreme Court ruled late Thursday evening that Alabama cannot immediately execute a man using nitrogen gas. The decision upheld a lower court order that had blocked the execution on grounds that the use of nitrogen gas violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

In a one-sentence order, the high court ruled that Alabama's request "was denied." Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch would have sided with Alabama, but they did not prepare a written dissent.

The decision is a victory—albeit a temporary one—for Jeffery Lee, who was convicted of a 1998 double murder. Lee was scheduled to die on July 11. He challenged the method of execution, contending that nitrogen gas forces someone to undergo many minutes of painful suffocation.

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Read more: https://www.npr.org/2026/06/11/nx-s1-5855742/supreme-court-alabama-execution