{"id":1060,"date":"2026-05-21T15:35:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T15:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1060"},"modified":"2026-05-21T15:35:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T15:35:55","slug":"supreme-court-dismisses-death-penalty-case-on-people-with-mental-disabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1060","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court dismisses death penalty case on people with mental disabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

The majority dismissed on procedural grounds the case of Joseph Clifton Smith, whose mental faculties skirt the threshold for being spared the death penalty.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Read the Democrats\u2019 2024 campaign autopsy<\/a><\/p>\n

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The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington. (Allison Robbert\/The Washington Post)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The Supreme Court on Thursday chose not to weigh in on what standards states should use to assess whether a person who commits a crime must be spared the death penalty because of intellectual disabilities.<\/p>\n

The high court dismissed on procedural grounds the case of Joseph Clifton Smith, who was convicted of capital murder in Alabama, leaving in place a lower-court ruling blocking his execution.<\/p>\n

The majority ruled the court should not have accepted the case, which revolved around how to assess multiple IQ scores that fall above and below the cutoff allowing execution. The case was significant because many capital punishment defendants fall into this borderline territory in the 27 states that have the death penalty.<\/p>\n

The unsigned majority opinion did not offer a rationale for its decision in Hamm v. Smith<\/i>, but Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a concurring opinion that the case was not the proper vehicle to examine how to treat multiple IQ scores in death penalty cases and the justices did not have the necessary factual record to reach a decision. She was joined by fellow liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court is not equipped to provide any meaningful guidance on how courts should assess multiple IQ scores,\u201d Sotomayor wrote.<\/p>\n

The ruling came over a dissent by conservative Justice Clarence Thomas and a partial dissent by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. that was joined, in part, by other conservative members of the court.<\/p>\n

Alito wrote that by \u201cremaining silent\u201d the \u201cCourt exacerbates the confusion that plagues our jurisprudence in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court held in a major 2002 ruling<\/a> that sentencing a mentally disabled person to death violates the Eighth Amendment\u2019s prohibition on \u201ccruel and unusual punishment,\u201d but left it to states to set standards for eligibility.<\/p>\n

Thomas wrote in his dissent that the ruling had no constitutional basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe result was predictable: To avoid execution, Smith tried to convince courts that he is not intelligent enough to be executed,\u201d Thomas wrote. \u201cToday, the Court rewards Smith\u2019s efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Alabama, a defendant is ineligible for execution if they have an IQ at or below 70 <\/b>and can demonstrate the existence of significant deficits in everyday skills that occurred before adulthood. The standards are similar in many states.<\/p>\n

The current case examined how Alabama should weigh Smith\u2019s multiple IQ scores to determine whether he should face the death penalty after he and an accomplice robbed and killed a man in 1997. The court was also examining how far courts should go in evaluating additional evidence of mental capacity beyond IQ.<\/p>

Read more Democrats release contentious autopsy of 2024 presidential campaign<\/a><\/p>\n

The state argued that lower courts had erred in blocking Smith\u2019s execution by placing too much weight on his lowest IQ score, which, only when considering the margin of error, could place Smith in the ineligible range. Alabama said the court should have considered the cumulative results of five IQ tests that placed him above the cutoff. Smith scored 75, 74, 72, 78 and 74 on tests over his lifetime.<\/p>\n

Robert M. Overing, deputy solicitor general for Alabama, told the justices during arguments in December<\/a> that the aggregate scores were a better yardstick for measuring Smith\u2019s intellectual impairment.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t come close to proving an IQ of 70 or below,\u201d Overing said.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s case began while he was on work release from prison in 1997. Smith and an accomplice robbed a man of $140 and killed him. A jury convicted Smith of capital murder during a robbery and sentenced him to death.<\/p>\n

After the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling barring the execution of intellectually disabled people, Smith filed for relief on those grounds. A federal district judge found Smith\u2019s score of 72 indicated his IQ could be as low as 69 because the test had a three-point margin of error. For that reason, the judge ruled Smith could present additional evidence of impairment to assess his mental capacity.<\/p>\n

In seventh grade, Smith\u2019s school classified him as \u201cEducable Mentally Retarded,\u201d a term used at the time to mean he had mild intellectual disability. Smith read and did math at a low level. He never held a job or opened a bank account and had difficulty following laws, according to evidence presented at a hearing.<\/p>\n

The court found that Smith\u2019s \u201cactual functioning\u201d was comparable to someone who was intellectually disabled, so he couldn\u2019t be sentenced to death.<\/p>\n

An appeals court upheld that ruling. Alabama appealed to the Supreme Court, which vacated the decision and asked the appeals court to clarify whether its ruling was based solely on one low IQ score or <\/b>if it also had considered other evidence and expert testimony.<\/p>\n

The appeals court once again found that Smith was intellectually disabled and said its decision was based on a holistic approach that considered Smith\u2019s deficits in everyday skills along with the IQ score of 72. Alabama appealed again to the Supreme Court, which agreed to take up the case.<\/p>\n

Seth P. Waxman, an attorney for Smith, told the justices during the December arguments that the lower courts had not erred in their assessment of Smith and that it was proper to consider the single low IQ score along with additional evidence of his impairment.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery court in Alabama \u2026 this court and every other court in every other state that I am aware of understands that raw observed test scores is not the definition of true IQ,\u201d Waxman said.<\/p>

Read more Afghan women\u2019s refugee team returning to international cricket after Taliban exclusion<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The majority dismissed on procedural grounds the case of Joseph Clifton Smith, whose mental faculties skirt the threshold for being spared the death penalty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nSupreme Court dismisses death penalty case on people with mental disabilities - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1060\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supreme Court dismisses death penalty case on people with mental disabilities - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The majority dismissed on procedural grounds the case of Joseph Clifton Smith, whose mental faculties skirt the threshold for being spared the death penalty.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1060\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-21T15:35:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4003ddec73e513e8bdec97bfd80c3ed2-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1060#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1060\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Supreme Court dismisses death penalty case on people with mental disabilities\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T15:35:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1060\"},\"wordCount\":968,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1060#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/5228f1718b99e1ec269627d0965c74fe-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1060#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1060\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1060\",\"name\":\"Supreme Court dismisses death penalty case on people with mental disabilities - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1060#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1060#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/5228f1718b99e1ec269627d0965c74fe-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T15:35:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1060#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1060\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1060#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/5228f1718b99e1ec269627d0965c74fe-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/5228f1718b99e1ec269627d0965c74fe-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"WASHINGTON,DC - AUGUST 20: Sunset at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on August 21, 2024. 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