John Q. Hamm, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections, Petitioner v. Joseph Clifton Smith

The Supreme Court released a decision on how courts should evaluate multiple IQ test scores when deciding whether a death-row defendant has significantly subaverage intellectual functioning under Atkins v. Virginia. The prompt does not provide the vote or the opinion's exact rule, but the Court resolved that question.

This affects death penalty cases in which IQ test results point in different directions. State courts, prison officials, and defendants will now have to follow the Supreme Court's guidance when deciding whether the Eighth Amendment bars an execution.

Lower courts must apply the Supreme Court's guidance in pending and future Atkins cases involving multiple IQ tests. Lawyers for defendants and state officials will likely revisit existing records, expert evidence, and execution-related litigation under the new standard.

The case asked how courts should treat several IQ tests that produced different results. The issue was whether those scores, viewed together, show significantly subaverage intellectual functioning under Atkins.

People in death penalty cases who claim intellectual disability are directly affected. State judges and corrections officials also must use the Court's approach when those claims involve mixed IQ evidence.

Lower courts will apply the Supreme Court's guidance in this case and others like it. Parties may need new briefing or hearings focused on the IQ evidence and expert testimony.