Supreme Court blocks execution for Texas prisoner denied spiritual adviser

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court blocked the execution Tuesday of a Texas inmate who was not allowed to die in the presence of a Christian priest.

"The District Court should promptly determine, based on whatever evidence the parties provide, whether serious security problems would result if a prisoner facing execution is permitted to choose the spiritual adviser the prisoner wishes to have in his immediate presence during the execution," the high court ruled in an unsigned order.

The court, which customarily looks favorably upon issues involving religious freedom, was in a bind of its own making: It blocked a Buddhist prisoner's execution last year because he was denied his own spiritual adviser. To avoid further discrimination, Texas barred all clergy from being present at executions.

The high court's action in the Buddhist prisoner's case represented an about-face, following its refusal to block an Alabama inmate's execution for being denied the company of a Muslim imam.

The court's five conservative justices were widely criticized for that decision, which they justified by saying the prisoner made his request too late. Associate Justice Elena Kagan called it "profoundly wrong," asserting that the prisoner's "religious rights will be violated at the moment the state puts him to death."

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In the subsequent Buddhist case, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh said barring all religious advisers would be one way to solve the discrimination. At the time, only Christian and Muslim advisers had the proper clearance to accompany prisoners into the execution chamber.

Then-Supreme Court Associate Justice nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing on Sept. 5, 2018.
Then-Supreme Court Associate Justice nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing on Sept. 5, 2018.

"As this court has repeatedly held, governmental discrimination against religion – in particular, discrimination against religious persons, religious organizations, and religious speech – violates the Constitution," Kavanaugh wrote.

"What the state may not do, in my view, is allow Christian or Muslim inmates but not Buddhist inmates to have a religious adviser of their religion in the execution room," he said.

The latest case involved Ruben Gutierrez, 43, who was convicted of killing an elderly woman during a home robbery in 1998. His execution was stopped by a federal judge last week to review both the religious claim and his request for DNA testing. But it later was reinstated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.

"Ruben Gutierrez believes that the presence of a Christian chaplain in the execution chamber will assist his passing from life to death and guide his path to the afterlife," his lawyer, Matthew Lawry, argued. "Prior to April 2019, the state of Texas would have allowed this practice, as chaplains have been present for hundreds of executions in Texas. But Texas changed the rules."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court blocks Texas execution without spiritual adviser