WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Supreme Court issued multiple rulings in capital cases in May and June 2026, overturning Terry Pitchford’s death sentence, clearing the way for Edward Busby’s execution, and remanding Gary Whitton’s due process claim for further review.
In Pitchford v. Cain, the Court threw out the conviction and death sentence of Terry Pitchford, who had spent approximately two decades on Mississippi’s death row. The ruling, authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh and joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, held that the trial judge in 2006 failed to properly analyze whether the prosecutor violated the Constitution’s prohibition on racial discrimination in jury selection.
In Guerrero v. Busby, the Court granted a request from Texas officials to vacate a stay of execution issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. On May 14, 2026, the Court issued a one-paragraph, unexplained order allowing Edward Lee Busby’s execution to proceed hours later. The 5th Circuit had paused the execution to consider Busby’s claim that he is intellectually disabled and thus ineligible for execution.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the denial of the stay in Guerrero v. Busby in an opinion joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, describing the appeals court’s action as “a modest, responsible step.” Jackson wrote, “In capital cases, we rarely intervene to preserve life. I cannot understand the Court’s rush to extinguish it, much less in the circumstances of this case.” Justice Elena Kagan noted that she would deny the application to vacate the stay but did not explain her reasoning.
In Whitton v. Dixon, the Court issued an unsigned opinion holding that the 11th Circuit improperly considered DNA evidence not presented to the jury when evaluating whether false testimony violated Gary Richard Whitton’s due process rights. The Court vacated the 11th Circuit’s opinion and remanded the case for additional proceedings, allowing Whitton’s legal challenge to continue.
The rulings come as executions in the U.S. have increased. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 47 people were executed in 2025—the highest annual total since 2009—and 14 had been executed by June 2, 2026, with 11 more scheduled before year’s end.