The Supreme Court Has a New Leading Moral Light on the Death Penalty

"October 2025 has not been a happy month for death penalty opponents. A total of seven people have been or are scheduled to be executed between Oct. 1 and the end of the month. That is a lot of executions in a short period of time. Several of the cases in which executions occurred this month involved truly egregious miscarriages of justice. But courts refused to intervene. Not surprisingly, the conservative-dominated, pro-death-penalty majority on the Supreme Court was not"

"She insisted that injustices in capital cases should be confronted directly. Sotomayor asked her colleagues and the American public not to turn a blind eye to the harsh realities that haunt the death penalty system in the United States. The cases in which she dissented last week offer stomach-turning examples of what often happens in that system. Let's look at what Sotomayor said in her dissenting opinions. The first involved Stacey Humphreys, who was convicted"

October 2025 saw seven people executed or scheduled for execution, an unusually high number in a single month. Several cases involved egregious miscarriages of justice, yet courts declined to intervene. The conservative-dominated, pro-death-penalty Supreme Court majority invoked procedural barriers to avoid addressing inmates' substantive claims. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented in two cases, insisting that injustices in capital cases be confronted directly and urging colleagues and the public not to ignore the harsh realities of the death-penalty system. One dissent involved Stacey Humphreys, whose defense presented mental disorders, PTSD, and Asperger's while a juror allegedly lied during voir dire.

Read at Slate Magazine