A dissent by 77yr-old Supreme Court Justice #ClarenceThomas in #Alabama #DeathPenalty ruling this wk found 2 #conservative justices siding w/ minority liberal wing, & 3 othr conservatives wantng nothing 2 do w/ his recommendations

Thomas's extreme position in.. #HammVSmith case has exposed deep fissures within conservative majority, w/ 3 justices distancing themselves from his call 2 overturn 25 yrs of precedent protecting condemnd individuals w/ #CognitiveDisabilities

https://www.rawstory.com/clarence-thomas-2676935350/

Looking at #HammvSmith, the wild #SupremeCourt case in which #Alabama is desperate to give the #DeathPenalty to someone who their own #courts found #IntellectuallyDisabled, despite it violating the #8thAmendment of the #constitution according to many past rulings. Alabama argues that his #IQtest scores range between 72 and 78, above the limit of 70. Defense counters that experts agree that #IQ is a flawed measure, that he has issues that aren't going to show on IQ tests, and that 72 is so low that the margin of error would reach below 70.

Meanwhile, the courts found multiple times that he was not competent for #execution, and let's be really honest here, everyone, even the #prosecutors, think he is #MentallyDisabled. This feels to me like #DoubleJeopardy and nitpicking: the courts already said he didn't meet the standard of #competence, and the #prosecutor is basically asking the supreme #court to have lower courts ignore facts whenever a state wants to kill people.

https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/12/court-appears-divided-on-whether-lower-courts-properly-found-death-row-inmate-to-be-intellectually-disabled/