Supreme Court blocks Alabama nitrogen execution of Jeffrey Lee

The Supreme Court on Thursday declined a request from Alabama to move forward with a scheduled execution using nitrogen hypoxia.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

The Alabama Attorney General's Office had asked the court to reverse a federal judge's decision that permanently bars the state from putting Jeffrey Lee to death by nitrogen hypoxia. Alabama first used the method in 2024.

Lee's legal team said in a statement that "his jury voted for his life," The Associated Press reported. "Two courts ruled the method unconstitutional. Today, the Constitution prevailed," the statement said. "Now Governor Ivey can finish what the jury started: restore the jury's verdict of life without parole."

A spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Corrections told the AP the execution was off for the evening and the state would not try another method.

"While I am disappointed the Supreme Court did not allow the state to proceed with Lee's chosen method of execution, I remain committed to ensuring that justice is ultimately served for his victims," Gov. Kay Ivey said, according to AP.

The procedure uses a gas mask strapped to the inmate's face. The inmate then inhales pure nitrogen, which causes death by asphyxiation.

Lee, 49, was scheduled to die at 6 p.m. CT on Thursday. Before the court's decision, a spokesperson for Gov. Ivey's office told CBS News that "the governor remains prepared to move forward with the planned execution" while the state "continues to defend its execution protocol in the courts."

The application from Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall reached the Supreme Court after U.S. District Judge Emily Marks ruled Tuesday that the protocol violates the Eighth Amendment. Marks found that Lee showed by a preponderance of evidence that the protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

Alabama argued that switching to a firing squad, as Lee's team proposed and Marks accepted, was not feasible because the state has no protocol for it. The state also said the nitrogen method was mischaracterized as barbaric and that inmates quickly lose consciousness.

An appeals court ruling Monday had reversed an earlier decision by Marks and found that the protocol poses a substantial risk of serious harm. The court said inmates likely experience severe air hunger, emotional distress, anxiety, physiological stress and physical discomfort for at least one to three minutes before suffocating.

Lee has been on death row since his 1998 conviction in a double murder and store robbery. The jury voted 7-2 for life without parole, but the trial judge overruled that verdict. Alabama outlawed judicial override in 2017.

Eight inmates have been executed by nitrogen gas in the United States, seven in Alabama and one in Louisiana. Witnesses have described inmates thrashing, moaning and showing signs of suffering for several minutes. In the most recent Alabama case, witnesses said Anthony Boyd gasped, shook and heaved for about 15 minutes.

Alabama has defended the method as a humane alternative to lethal injection. A series of legal claims challenging the protocol is set for trial in 2027.