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Supreme Court Case Tracker

Emergency application · Capital case

Jessie Hoffman v. Gary Westcott, Secretary, Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections

Denied
No. 24A893Stay applicationFiled by a prisoner facing executionPresented to Justice AlitoFrom United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

What did the Court do?

The Court denied the request on March 18, 2025 and refused to halt the execution.

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

Filed Ruled 2 days after filing

What's being asked

A prisoner facing execution asks the Supreme Court to halt (stay) an execution. The case is Jessie Hoffman v. Gary Westcott, Secretary, Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections.

What the Court did

Application (24A893) for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied. Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan, and Justice Jackson would grant the application for stay of execution. Justice Gorsuch dissents. (Detached Opinion )

Dissenting · 4recorded against the Court's order
  1. Sotomayorwould grant
  2. Kaganwould grant
  3. Gorsuch
  4. Jacksonwould grant
Vote not published · 5the order does not say how they voted
  1. Thomas
  2. Roberts
  3. Alito
  4. Kavanaugh
  5. Barrett
The order records the positions of 4 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 27 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 2 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. 24A893. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked September 24, 2026