Plain-English summary
Court dismisses challenge over how low IQ must be proved for death-penalty exclusion
The Court dismissed the petition as improvidently granted, leaving in place lower-court handling of how to evaluate IQ evidence in Atkins intellectual-disability death-penalty claims. The dismissal means the Supreme Court did not resolve whether a State may require a claimant to prove an IQ of 70 or less by a preponderance of the evidence.
Why this matters
The question goes to who may be eligible for a death-penalty exemption under Atkins and what proof states can require. A ruling for Alabama could have raised the bar for inmates claiming intellectual disability by allowing a strict numeric IQ cutoff and a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard. With the dismissal, there is no new nationwide rule from the Supreme Court, so disputed practices and lower-court decisions remain in place until revisited.
Who may feel it
- People on death row claiming intellectual disability
- State corrections and prosecutors involved in death-penalty cases
- Defense attorneys and advocates for people with intellectual disabilities
- Courts handling Atkins claims and related appeals
- Organizations that set professional standards for IQ and disability assessment
Key questions
- Whether a State may require an inmate to prove an IQ score of 70 or below by a preponderance of the evidence to qualify as intellectually disabled under Atkins.