NEWS (6/​16/​20) — Washington, D.C.: The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed the exe­cu­tion of Ruben Gutierrez over con­cerns about the refusal by the state of Texas to allow a chap­lain to accom­pa­ny Gutierrez in the execution chamber. 

The order, issued one hour before Gutierrez was sched­uled to be put to death, stayed his exe­cu­tion pend­ing the court’s dis­po­si­tion of Gutierrez’s peti­tion to review his reli­gious dis­crim­i­na­tion claim. Gutierrez had argued that Texas’ revo­ca­tion of its pri­or pol­i­cy of per­mit­ting its Christian and Muslim chap­lains to accom­pa­ny pris­on­ers into the exe­cu­tion cham­ber, rather than make accom­mo­da­tions to per­mit pris­on­ers of oth­er reli­gions to have their own reli­gious accom­pa­ni­ment, was a retal­ia­to­ry act of religious discrimination.

Texas had argued that per­mit­ting a prison chap­lain to be present for Gutierrez’s exe­cu­tion posed secu­ri­ty con­cerns, notwith­stand­ing the fact that it per­mit­ted its chap­lains to be present at exe­cu­tions for decades with­out inci­dent. The Supreme Court direct­ed the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, where Gutierrez had filed his reli­gious dis­crim­i­na­tion com­plaint, to ​“prompt­ly deter­mine, based on what­ev­er evi­dence the par­ties pro­vide, whether seri­ous secu­ri­ty prob­lems would result if a pris­on­er fac­ing exe­cu­tion is per­mit­ted to choose the spir­i­tu­al advis­er the pris­on­er wish­es to have in his imme­di­ate pres­ence dur­ing the execution.”

The last nine exe­cu­tions set to take place in Texas have been stayed or rescheduled.

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