US Supreme Court clears the way for Tennessee inmate Christa Pike to be executed, overturning a last-minute reprieve.
The lethal‑injection was scheduled for Wednesday morning, but the Sixth Circuit Appeals court halted the execution, giving Pike’s lawyers time to file additional appeals.
The Tennessee attorney general then asked the Supreme Court to reverse the lower court’s stay, a request that Justice Brett Kavanaugh accepted. No explanation was offered for lifting the stay.
The top court’s three liberal justices—Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson—dissented, arguing that Pike’s right to a fair review should not be overridden by a desire to expedite her execution.
Pike, 50, has awaited execution since her 1996 conviction for the murder of 19‑year‑old Colleen Slemmer. If carried out, she would be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
The Supreme Court’s order was issued just before 18.00 local time, moments before the state’s execution order was set to expire at midnight. If the deadline passes, the Tennessee Supreme Court will need to set a new execution date, according to Associated Press reports.
Pike’s case has also foregrounded the state’s claims about her alleged sexual abuse. While the state has previously argued that she lied about abuse, a recent hearing confirmed that she did in fact suffer sexual assault and rape.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court refused to hear an alternative appeal by Pike, and Tennessee’s governor declined a clemency request from the death row inmate. The situation remains unresolved and continues to fuel debate over the use of the death penalty in the United States.
