Supreme Court liberals decry ‘excruciating suffocation’ in nitrogen hypoxia executions

The Supreme Court’s three liberal justices laid out on Thursday a remarkable criticism of nitrogen hypoxia. They asserted that this new form of capital punishement causes “psychological fear” and “excruciating breathing” for the condemned, and violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor is the senior liberal on the Supreme Court. She encouraged Americans to set their stopwatches and take note as the minutes turned into seconds.

“Imagine that you were suffocating for the entire time,” Sotomayor wrote, in her dissent. She was joined by Justices Elena Kagan, and Ketanji, Brown Jackson. You want to breath; you must breathe. You are strapped on a gurney, with a mask covering your face and pumping nitrogen gas into your lungs.

She continued, “Your mind knows the gas will kill.” “But your body is telling you to breath.”

Sotomayor made a strikingly different opinion in the case Anthony Boyd. Boyd was sentenced to die in 1995 in Alabama for the brutal murder of Gregory Huguley. Huguley, according to court documents, was duct-taped on a bench and doused in gasoline. He was then burned alive for a $200 debt.

The Supreme Court refused to halt Boyd’s death sentence and, as it is almost always in emergency cases involving the death penalty, the majority of the court did not explain their decision. The Supreme Court is usually notified of capital cases days, and even hours, before scheduled executions.

Boyd was executed on Thursday afternoon, according to Alabama Attorney general Steve Marshall.

Only Alabama and Louisiana are currently using the nitrogen hypoxia method. The Supreme Court permitted Alabama to use the procedure as a form of execution for the first-time in early last year. Seven people have been executed in the two states using nitrogen hypoxia.

This new method was developed partly in response to the refusal of many pharmaceutical companies to use their drugs for lethal injections.

Sotomayor, in her opinion, wrote that nitrogen gas is not as effective as it was advertised. It can take up to seven minutes to lose consciousness.

Boyd asked to be shot by a firing squad.

Sotomayor wrote: “The Constitution would grant that grace.” “My colleagues do not. This court has thus turned its back on Boyd, and the Eighth Amendment guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/23/politics/supreme-court-liberals-nitrogen-hypoxia-executions

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