Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman, et al., Petitioners v. Tony Parker, Commissioner, Tennessee Department of Corrections, et al.

Death row prisoners in Tennessee asked the Supreme Court to review a due process challenge tied to the state's three-drug execution protocol. On May 13, 2019, the Court declined review and did not decide the merits, leaving the Tennessee Supreme Court's result in place.

The docket materials here show a petition for certiorari (the Court's decision to hear a case) was denied, but no vote breakdown or opinion lineup is provided.

That meant the prisoners did not get Supreme Court review of their claim that Tennessee courts relied on privileged evidence they could not meaningfully test. More broadly, inmates challenging an execution method still had to fight under the lower court ruling in this case.

The Supreme Court has finished with this docket action. The Tennessee ruling remains in effect unless future litigation changes the result in another case.

The prisoners said Tennessee courts relied on privileged communications in upholding the execution protocol. They argued that blocked fair cross-examination and denied due process.

Because the Court declined review, the Tennessee decision stayed in place. That affected these prisoners and others challenging the state's three-drug execution method.

Nothing further happened in this Supreme Court docket. Any new challenge would have to come through separate litigation, not this denied petition.