The right of death-row inmates to receive spiritual guidance was clarified during arguments done in the United States Supreme Court.
The SCOTUSblog tweeted Tuesday, Nov. 9, that an inmate's right to receive spiritual guidance, through the case of John Ramirez from Texas, was clarified in court.
"Today's second argument: The case of John Ramirez, who is sentenced to death in Texas and has asked that his pastor be permitted to lay hands on him and audibly pray during the execution. Texas objects to the request," the outlet said.
A case preview shared by SCOTUSblog on Monday said that the court intends to clarify the matter since the question on spiritual advisers being present during the execution of inmates have grappled justices for more than two years now.
A recent case that's part of the review is the execution of Willie Smith III on October 21. Smith was executed due to the murder of Sharma Ruth Johnson in 1991. Pastor Robert Wiley was present during the execution wherein he placed "his hand on Smith's leg and appeared to pray with him." Smith's case has led a Texas inmate -Ramirez- to request a similar aid be provided him.
The case, Ramirez v. Collier, used the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act and the free exercise clause as basis for a Texas court to allow Ramirez' pastor to be present in the execution chamber, but prohibits him to lay his hands on him during the process. The Supreme Court will then review the Ramirez v. Collier case and "rule definitively" for the first time on the "rights of inmates to receive religious comfort and guidance in their final moments."
Besides Smith's case, there are actually four other cases that were presented in the United States Supreme Court. SCOTUSblog cited the 2019 case of a Muslim man Domineque Ray from Alabama in February, a Buddhist man Patrick Murphy from Texas in March, as well as, Ruben Gutierrez who is a Catholic, in June 2021.
Ray was refused to have his imam at his side during his execution, but a Christian chaplain was allowed inside the chamber. The brief order on Ray's case noted that relief was only sought by him 10 days prior his scheduled date of execution. In so far as Murphy's case is involved, his execution was prohibited by the Supreme Court unless a Buddhist priest was beside him.
"In an opinion agreeing with the decision to block Murphy's execution, Justice Brett Kavanaugh emphasized that, under the state's policy in effect at the time, Muslim and Christian inmates were allowed to have spiritual advisers in the execution chamber with them, but inmates of other faiths--like Murphy--were not," SCOTUSblog explained.
"Although Texas may have good reasons to limit access to the execution chamber, Kavanaugh acknowledged, the solution would be to exclude all spiritual advisers from the chamber, rather than distinguishing among inmates based on their religion," the outlet added.
Texas afterwards adopted a new policy excluding spiritual pastors during execution of inmates based on what transpired in Murphy's case. This was then challenged by Gutierrez in the Supreme Court who ordered his execution to be put on hold until the matter have been settled by the district court.
The Texas district court then determined that allowing a spiritual adviser present in the execution chamber would not jeopardize security prompting the revision of their policy to revert to what it was before.
