In Gutierrez v. Saenz, 19-8695, the Supreme Court stayed the execution of a Texas inmate on Tuesday, about an hour before the killing was to occur. Mr. Gutierrez’s attorneys had appealed to the court to temporarily halt the killing by arguing that their client’s religious rights were being violated since the prison system barred a chaplain from accompanying him in the death chamber. The ruling is the latest development in an ongoing debate over the presence of clergy members in rooms where prisoners are executed. The Texas prison system, which oversees more executions than any other state system, banned clergy from death chambers after the Supreme Court in 2019 halted the execution of a Buddhist prisoner who was denied a spiritual adviser. Only Christian and Muslim advisers were allowed in the room at the time. In response to the ruling, the prison system declared it would only allow prison security staff into the execution chamber.
The petition for a writ of certiorari, the application for a stay, brief in opposition, and reply are available on the Supreme Court’s website, here.