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Supreme Court Case Tracker

Emergency application · Capital case

Benjamin Ritchie v. Ron Neal, Warden

Denied
No. 24A1109Stay applicationFiled by a prisoner facing executionPresented to Justice BarrettFrom United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

What did the Court do?

The Court denied the request on May 19, 2025 and refused to halt the execution.

Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case. Justice Sotomayor and Justice Jackson would have ruled the other way.

Filed Ruled 0 days after filing

What's being asked

A prisoner facing execution asks the Supreme Court to halt (stay) an execution. The case is Benjamin Ritchie v. Ron Neal, Warden.

What the Court did

Application (24A1109) for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice Barrett and by her referred to the Court is denied. The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied. Justice Sotomayor and Justice Jackson would grant the application for stay of execution of sentence of death and the petition for a writ of certiorari.

Dissenting · 2recorded against the Court's order
  1. Sotomayorwould grant
  2. Jacksonwould grant
Vote not published · 7the order does not say how they voted
  1. Thomas
  2. Roberts
  3. Alito
  4. Kagan
  5. Gorsuch
  6. Kavanaugh
  7. Barrett
The order records the positions of 2 of 9 justices. The Court usually does not say how each justice voted on an emergency application, so the rest are shown as not published.
Days from filing to a ruling for 36 rulings on capital applications decided without a response since January 1, 2025. The band is the middle half, the tick the median, and the mark this application: ruled 0 days after filing.

What it means

The Court's refusal leaves the execution to go forward as scheduled unless another court or official halts it.

Sources

Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 24A1109. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked September 24, 2026