(ORDER LIST: 552 U.S.)
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2007
ORDER IN PENDING CASE
07A311 NORRIS, DIR., AR DOC, ET AL. V. JONES, JACK H.
The application to vacate the stay of execution of sentence
of death entered by the United States Court of Appeals for the
Eighth Circuit on October 11, 2007, presented to Justice Alito
and by him referred to the Court, is denied.
Justice Scalia, dissenting.
I vote to grant the State’s application to vacate the stay
because in my view the decision of the Eighth Circuit was based
on the mistaken premise that our grant of certiorari in Baze v.
Rees, ___ S. Ct. ___ (2007), calls for the stay of every
execution in which an individual raises an Eighth Amendment
challenge to the lethal injection protocol. The grant of
certiorari in a single case does not alter the application of
normal rules of procedure, including those related to timeliness.
In this case, Jones’s challenge to the lethal injection protocol,
which was brought nine years after his conviction and sentence
became final, was dilatory.