The US Supreme Court on Thursday night upheld the lower court’s decision and finally prevented the state of Alabama from executing 49-year-old Jeffrey Lee by nitrogen gas. Federal Judge Emily Marks has previously ruled that inhalation of pure nitrogen through a respirator is an unconstitutional method of execution
The US Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the state of Alabama from executing an inmate on death row using nitrogen gas. A lower court called it an unconstitutional method of execution. The AFP agency drew attention to it, writes TASR.
- The United States Supreme Court halted the execution of Jeffrey Lee by nitrogen gas.
- Federal Judge Emily Marks ruled nitrogen execution an unconstitutional method.
- In 2025, 47 executions were carried out in the United States.
The decision of six judges and rescue from the nitrogen mask
Jeffrey Lee, 49, was sentenced to death for murdering two people during a robbery in 1998 and was to be executed by inhalation of nitrogen gas on Thursday. Montgomery federal judge Emily Marks on Tuesday rejected the use of nitrogen to carry out the execution, and the state of Alabama appealed to the Supreme Court.
“The application for adjournment or annulment … submitted to the court is rejected,” the Supreme Court said on Thursday evening. The decision was supported by six of the nine judges, the reasons were not given in the resolution.
How does nitrogen execution work?
The United Nations has previously described nitrogen inhalation as a method of capital punishment as cruel and inhumane. Alabama has been using nitrogen to carry out some executions since 2024. This involves attaching a respirator to the condemned person’s face and replacing the breathable air with pure nitrogen gas.
There have been 15 executions in the US this year – eight in Florida, four in Texas, two in Oklahoma and one in Arizona.
Death penalty statistics in the US and last year’s record
In 2025, there were 47, which according to AFP is the most since 2009, when 52 convicts were executed. Most were carried out by lethal injection, three by shooting and five by nitrogen inhalation. Florida had the most (19), Alabama, South Carolina and Texas had five executions each.
Nitrogen has been used in eight executions so far – seven in Alabama and one in Louisiana.
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, with a moratorium in three others (California, Oregon and Pennsylvania). US President Donald Trump is a supporter of it and has called for expanding its application “in the case of the most heinous crimes”.
