The Supreme Court Tinkers at the Edges of the Machinery of Death

The U.S. Supreme Court’s latest term, which ended this week as the justices began their summer recess, saw death-penalty opponents achieve some notable victories even as the Court moved further away from abolishing capital punishment.

In one of those wins Monday, the justices vacated an Alabama death-row inmate’s sentence after ruling the state had not given him adequate professional assistance to evaluate his mental health during his trial more than three decades ago. The Court said the state’s failure to provide James McWilliams with the experts required under one of its 1985 rulings made his sentence unconstitutional.

“Since Alabama’s provision of mental-health assistance fell so dramatically short of what [] requires,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the majority, “we must conclude that