US EditionLiberal Supreme Court justices decry nitrogen hypoxia executions: ‘Excruciating suffocation’
Boyd was executed by nitrogen hypoxia after the Supreme Court rejected his firing squad request; seven people have died using this method in Alabama and Louisiana, officials said.
- On Thursday, Anthony Todd Boyd was executed in Alabama by nitrogen hypoxia after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to pause his execution and denied his firing-squad request, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said.
- After drug supplies dried up, states authorized nitrogen hypoxia as five states have approved it, with Alabama and Louisiana using it while the Supreme Court allowed Alabama's first use last year.
- In a dissent joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote nitrogen hypoxia causes `psychological terror` and `excruciating suffocation`, lasting two to seven minutes of consciousness.
- Alabama's attorney general defended the method as `constitutional and effective`, with the two states having used nitrogen hypoxia to execute seven people before this case.
- Capital cases often reach the Court days—or sometimes hours—before execution; Anthony Todd Boyd pleaded innocence and begged Kay Ivey, Governor of Alabama, to intervene.
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Liberal US Supreme Court justices decry nitrogen gas execution in spirited dissent
As the state of Alabama prepared to execute a death row inmate on Thursday with nitrogen gas, the U.S. Supreme Court's three liberal justices in a spirited dissent urged the public to watch the seconds on their smartphone clocks tick all the way to four minutes.
Liberal Supreme Court justices decry nitrogen hypoxia executions: ‘Excruciating suffocation’
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor led the court’s other two liberal justices in penning a dissent that condemned the use of nitrogen hypoxia in executions. Sotomayor — joined by Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan — wrote the dissent in response to the conservative majority’s Thursday decision to decline a stay of execution for…
Alabama Executes Man by Nitrogen Gas After Supreme Court Denies Request for Firing Squad
Alabama Department of Corrections The state of Alabama on Oct. 23, 2025, executed convicted murderer Anthony Boyd by nitrogen gas just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider requiring the state to execute him by firing squad instead. The Alabama man was convicted of capital murder in the 1993 killing of Gregory Huguley in Talladega County.
Supreme Court liberals decry ‘excruciating suffocation’ in nitrogen hypoxia executions
The Supreme Court’s three liberal justices laid out a remarkable critique of nitrogen hypoxia executions Thursday, asserting that the new form of capital punishment causes “psychological terror” and “excruciating suffocation” in the condemned and likely violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
Supreme Court liberals decry ‘excruciating suffocation’ in nitrogen executions
The Supreme Court's three liberal justices on Thursday laid out a remarkable critique of nitrogen hypoxia executions, asserting that the new form of capital punishment causes "psychological terror" and "excruciating suffocation" in the condemned and likely violates the Eighth Amendment's…
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