The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to hear Alabama’s appeal to execute Joseph Clifton Smith, a 55-year-old man whom lower courts found to be intellectually disabled.
Smith has spent roughly half his life on death row following his 1997 conviction in a beating death. The justices dismissed the case rather than issuing a full ruling, leaving intact lower court determinations that Smith qualifies for protection under the Supreme Court’s 2002 Atkins v. Virginia decision, which barred executing intellectually disabled individuals.
The Case Against Execution
Smith’s attorneys presented evidence that he attended special education classes and left school after seventh grade. At the time of the crime, Smith performed mathematics at a kindergarten level, spelled at a third-grade level and read at a fourth-grade level, according to court documents.
The Supreme Court had previously expanded standards for intellectual disability cases in 2014 and 2017 decisions, directing states to consider broader evidence because IQ testing carries a recognized margin of error. The justices reviewed Smith’s case to determine how courts should approach borderline intellectual disability determinations.
The Court’s Division
A 5-4 majority voted to dismiss the appeal, with the court’s three liberal justices joined by Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. The four remaining conservative justices dissented.
The dissenters argued the Supreme Court should have ordered the lower court to reconsider Smith’s claims rather than dismissing the case outright. They criticized the federal appeals court in Atlanta for what they characterized as improper analysis.
Separate Boy Scouts Decision
In a separate ruling Wednesday, the Supreme Court refused to examine a $2.4 billion bankruptcy settlement for the Boy Scouts of America. The court dismissed an appeal from 75 childhood sexual abuse victims who contended the agreement unlawfully prevented them from suing organizations that operated local scouting programs.
The victims argued the justices should have revisited the settlement following a 2023 ruling in a comparable case involving Purdue Pharma. That 5-4 decision blocked a bankruptcy agreement that would have shielded the Sackler family from future lawsuits.
In the Boy Scouts settlement, third-party entities including churches and civic organizations received protection from civil litigation in exchange for billions in contributions to a victims’ compensation fund. Critics contend courts lack authority to prevent such lawsuits, while supporters argue protections are necessary for major bankruptcy agreements to proceed.
The Boy Scouts declared bankruptcy in 2020 after spending more than $150 million resolving abuse lawsuits from 2017 to 2019. A Delaware federal bankruptcy court approved the reorganization plan in 2022, allowing the organization to emerge from bankruptcy while establishing a victim compensation fund.