Emergency application · Capital case
Public access to trials
Mikal Mahdi v. Bryan Stirling, Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections
What did the Court do?
The Court denied the request on April 11, 2025 and refused to halt the execution.
Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case.
What's being asked
South Carolina death-row prisoner Mikal Mahdi asked the Court to pause his execution, scheduled for April 11, 2025. He asked for time for the Court to review his petition challenging a South Carolina Supreme Court judgment involving his Sixth Amendment claim.
What the Court did
The Court refused a temporary pause (denied a stay) of Mahdi’s execution. It also refused Supreme Court review (denied certiorari, the request for the Court to hear the case). The Court did not publish how the justices voted.
What it means
The stay ruling addressed only the requested pause; it did not decide Mahdi’s Sixth Amendment claim. The South Carolina Supreme Court judgment remains in place, and the docket lists no related case on the main question or argument.
Sources
Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 24A956. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.