Thread by @chrisgeidner

We’re still waiting on word from #SCOTUS in John Ramirez’s request for a stay of execution in Texas. Ramirez is due to be executed tonight. Here’s the docket: supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?fi…

Here’s the underlying issue presented, a religious liberty — specifically, RLUIPA — claim, on which he is asking for a stay:

Notably, Texas AG Paxton, which opposes the stay request, is also *opposing* the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty here, which filed an amicus brief supporting Ramirez. supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/2…

The brief in opposition from Texas isn’t on the application docket pg, but it is over on the cert petition docket pg (presumably bc it’s styled as both cert opposition & stay of execution opposition, though I’m not sure why it can’t be on both pgs then): supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?fi…

BREAKING: #SCOTUS grants a stay of execution to John Ramirez on his religious liberty claim, setting the case for argument in the upcoming term. Ramirez was due to be executed by Texas tonight.

More from Keri —>

https://twitter.com/keribla/status/1435789760572923904

As others have noted, #SCOTUS allowed a similar execution to go forward in 2019, when the person being executed, Domineque Ray, was a Muslim and not Christian. The majority there claimed Ray’s delay in filing his case justified its decision to lift a stay & allow his execution.

https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/1093694396153974785

Kagan basically made the argument then in dissent that a majority of the Court tonight effectively employed to halt Ramirez’s execution (by taking his case for argument).

https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/1093697553810509825

#SCOTUS oral arguments in John Ramirez’s case challenging Texas’s prohibition of his religious advisor speaking or touching him during the execution to which he has been sentenced is set for less than two months from now, on Nov. 1.