{"id":994781,"date":"2021-11-10T14:44:28","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T19:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=994781"},"modified":"2021-11-10T14:44:31","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T19:44:31","slug":"supreme-court-hears-argument-for-case-on-death-row-inmates-religious-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-hears-argument-for-case-on-death-row-inmates-religious-request\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Hears Argument For Case On Death Row Inmate\u2019s Religious Request"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsupreme-court-hears-argument-for-case-on-death-row-inmates-religious-request%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=994781&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"p1\">The Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday regarding a case about a man who desired to have his pastor lay hands on him and pray out loud during his execution.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The death row inmate, John Henry Ramirez, 37, was convicted of fatally stabbing a man during a convenience store robbery in Corpus Christi, Texas, that occurred in 2004.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The justices had different reactions to the request. Some reportedly stated that it was a humble one that honored the man\u2019s right to practice his religion as he died. Others were concerned about this leading to more special petitions for the execution chamber.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cWhat\u2019s going to happen,\u201d Justice Samuel Alito asked, \u201cwhen the next prisoner says that I have a religious belief that he should touch my knee? He should hold my hand? He should put his hand over my heart? He should be able to put his hand on my head?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/11\/09\/us\/supreme-court-pastor-texas-execution.html\">reported<\/a> by The New York Times:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. asked about requests to have more than one spiritual adviser in the execution chamber and about last-minute conversions to new faiths. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh asked about a request for \u201cbread and wine in the execution room.\u201d Justice Alito worried that judges would be required \u201cto go through the whole human anatomy\u201d to decide where touching was permitted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Some justices were more sympathetic. \u201cYou should have a pastor to help guide you to the other place,\u201d Justice Sonia Sotomayor said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">However, Seth Kretzer, the lawyer for Ramirez, argued that Texas had permitted physical touch and prayers to be said aloud by spiritual persons during 572 executions over forty years through 2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Justice Kavanaugh stated, \u201cthat does not move me at all,\u201d since the spiritual personnel at those executions worked for the prison and were therefore not a potential danger.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kavanaugh added that an execution is \u201ca very fraught situation with a lot of potential for issues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2021\/11\/ramirez-collier-execution-religious-liberty-kavanaugh-thomas.html\">Slate<\/a>, Kavanaugh also said to Kretzer, \u201cPeople are moving the goal posts on their claims in order to delay executions\u2026At least, that\u2019s the state\u2019s concern.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Later on, he added, \u201cThis is a potential huge area of future litigation across a lot of areas\u2014sincerity of religious claims. How do we question those? Some things people have talked about are the incentives someone might have to be insincere, behavioral inconsistencies \u2026 the religious tradition of the practice. What do we look at to check sincerity? Because that\u2019s a very awkward thing for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday regarding a case about a man who desired to have his pastor lay hands on him and pray out loud during his execution.\u00a0The death row inmate, John Henry Ramirez, 37, was convicted of fatally stabbing a man during a convenience store robbery in Corpus Christi, Texas, that occurred in 2004.The justices had different reactions to the request. Some reportedly stated that it was a humble one that honored the man\u2019s right to practice his religion as he died. Others were concerned about this leading to more special petitions for the execution chamber.\u00a0\u201cWhat\u2019s going to happen,\u201d Justice Samuel Alito asked, \u201cwhen the next prisoner says that I have a religious belief that he should touch my knee? He should hold my hand? He should put his hand over my heart? He should be able to put his hand on my head?\u201dAs reported by The New York Times:Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. asked about requests to have more than one spiritual adviser in the execution chamber and about last-minute conversions to new faiths. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh asked about a request for \u201cbread and wine in the execution room.\u201d Justice Alito worried that judges would be required \u201cto go through the whole human anatomy\u201d to decide where touching was permitted.Some justices were more sympathetic. \u201cYou should have a pastor to help guide you to the other place,\u201d Justice Sonia Sotomayor said.However, Seth Kretzer, the lawyer for Ramirez, argued that Texas had permitted physical touch and prayers to be said aloud by spiritual persons during 572 executions over forty years through 2019.Justice Kavanaugh stated, \u201cthat does not move me at all,\u201d since the spiritual personnel at those executions worked for the prison and were therefore not a potential danger.\u00a0Kavanaugh added that an execution is \u201ca very fraught situation with a lot of potential for issues.\u201dAccording to Slate, Kavanaugh also said to Kretzer, \u201cPeople are moving the goal posts on their claims in order to delay executions\u2026At least, that\u2019s the state\u2019s concern.\u201dLater on, he added, \u201cThis is a potential huge area of future litigation across a lot of areas\u2014sincerity of religious claims. How do we question those? Some things people have talked about are the incentives someone might have to be insincere, behavioral inconsistencies \u2026 the religious tradition of the practice. What do we look at to check sincerity? Because that\u2019s a very awkward thing for a judge to do, to say: \u2019I want to look into the sincerity of your claim.\u2019 But our case law says we must do that.\u201dJustice Clarence Thomas reportedly asked, \u201cIf we think that Mr. Ramirez has changed his request a number of times and has filed last-minute complaints, and if we assume that that\u2019s some indication of gaming the system, what should we do with that with respect to assessing the sincerity of his beliefs?\u201dThe SCOTUS Blog added, \u201cKretzer pushed back against the premise of Thomas\u2019 question, telling the justices that Ramirez has \u2018always asked as quickly as possible\u2019 for relief and that his religious beliefs are both sincere and \u2018consistently stated.&#8217;\u201dThe Times added, \u201cEric J. Feigin, a lawyer for the federal government who argued in support of neither side, drew distinctions that seemed to appeal to some of the justices. He said audible prayers from spiritual advisers were common at recent federal executions, but touching was rare and should not be allowed once the lethal chemicals were being administered.\u201dFederal prison officials, he said, \u201cwould have very, very substantial concerns about that because of the risk of either advertent or inadvertent disruption of the IV lines.\u201d\u00a0\u201cSomeone could faint, someone could stumble, and you could jostle the lines,\u201d he said.As\u00a0reported by The Daily Wire in September, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the execution of Ramirez because his desire to have his pastor lay hands on him and say prayers as he died was not fulfilled.According to Politico, \u201cProsecutors say Ramirez stabbed Castro 29 times during a series of robberies in which the inmate and two women sought money following a three-day drug binge. Ramirez fled to Mexico but was arrested three and a half years later.\u201d\u00a0The convict\u2019s lawyer, Seth Kretzer, said that in refusing to allow the inmate to have his pastor touch him and say prayers during his execution, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice was going against Ramirez\u2019s First Amendment rights to practice his religion.\u00a0\u201cIt is hostile toward religion, denying religious exercise at the precise moment it is most needed: when someone is transitioning from this life to the next,\u201d Kretzer reportedly said in court papers.The Supreme Court\u2019s order was different from previous rulings from lower courts.\u00a0\u201c[The Texas Department of Criminal Justice] has a compelling interest in maintaining an orderly, safe, and effective process when carrying out an irrevocable, and emotionally charged, procedure,\u201d U.S. District Judge David Hittner previously\u00a0ruled, according to the\u00a0Texas Tribune.The district judge noted that TDCJ \u201cwill accommodate Ramirez\u2019s religious beliefs by giving Ramirez access to his pastor on the day of execution and allowing him to stand nearby during the execution.\u201d\u00a0Dana Moore, the pastor at Second Baptist Church in Corpus Christi, who became a spiritual adviser to Ramirez over the past several years, wrote about the situation in an affidavit previously filed in court.\u201cI understand that I will be able to stand in the same room with John during his execution, but I will not be able to physically touch him,\u201d Moore wrote. \u201cI need to be in physical contact with John Ramirez during the most stressful and difficult time of his life in order to give him comfort.\u201d\u00a0Ramirez\u2019s execution has been called off two times before due to a change in attorney and the coronavirus pandemic.\u00a0The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-994781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=994781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=994781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=994781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=994781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}