Emergency application · Capital case
Lethal injection methods
Richard Jordan v. Mississippi State Executioner
What did the Court do?
The Court denied the request on June 25, 2025 and refused to halt the execution.
Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case.
What's being asked
Richard Jordan, a death-row prisoner, asked the Supreme Court to pause his execution while it considered his request to review the Fifth Circuit's ruling. He challenges Mississippi's three-drug lethal-injection method, which uses midazolam, a paralytic drug, and potassium chloride. Jordan says a single-drug barbiturate method would reduce or remove risks from the other drugs. The Fifth Circuit upheld a district court's refusal to block that protocol.
What the Court did
The Court refused to pause Jordan's execution and refused to hear his challenge (denied his petition for Supreme Court review). This order does not decide whether Mississippi's execution method is lawful; the Court did not publish how the justices voted.
What it means
The order addresses only Jordan's request for a temporary pause; it does not decide whether Mississippi's execution method is lawful. No related case on the main question is listed, and no argument is set. The record does not say whether further proceedings continue in the Fifth Circuit.
Sources
Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 24A1279. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.