Amy Howe

Mar 8 2017

Court denies stay to Texas death-row inmate, over Breyer dissent

Last night Texas executed Rolando Ruiz, who was convicted of the 1992 murder for hire of Theresa Rodriguez, whose husband wanted to collect on her $400,000 life insurance policy.

The Supreme Court declined to step in to block Ruiz’s execution. But Justice Stephen Breyer – who has recently expressed doubt about whether the death penalty is constitutional – publicly dissented from the court’s denial of a stay. Breyer indicated that he would have put Ruiz’s execution on hold to allow the court to take a closer look at Ruiz’s claim that executing him would violate the Constitution’s bar on cruel and unusual punishment because he had spent 22 years in “permanent solitary confinement.” Breyer emphasized that Ruiz “has developed symptoms long associated with solitary confinement,” such as “severe anxiety and depression,” “suicidal thoughts,” and “hallucination.” And, Breyer added, Ruiz is not responsible for the 22 years that he has spent in solitary confinement, either through his behavior while incarcerated or by dragging out his appeals. Instead, Breyer stressed, his years in solitary confinement “arise simply from the fact that he is a prisoner awaiting execution.” As such, Breyer concluded, Ruiz’s claim “is a strong one, and we should consider it.”

Amy L Howe
Until September 2016, Amy served as the editor and reporter for SCOTUSblog, a blog devoted to coverage of the Supreme Court of the United States; she continues to serve as an independent contractor and reporter for SCOTUSblog. Before turning to full-time blogging, she served as counsel in over two dozen merits cases at the Supreme Court and argued two cases there. From 2004 until 2011, she co-taught Supreme Court litigation at Stanford Law School; from 2005 until 2013, she co-taught a similar class at Harvard Law School. She has also served as an adjunct professor at American University’s Washington College of Law and Vanderbilt Law School. Amy is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a master’s degree in Arab Studies and a law degree from Georgetown University.
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