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Snapshot 11:Thu, Dec 11, 2025 6:34:57 PM GMT last edited by MattKalman

Supreme Court Hears Alabama Death Row IQ Threshold Case

Supreme Court Hears Alabama Death Row IQ Threshold Case

Supreme Court Hears Alabama Death Row IQ Threshold Case
Above: The Contemplation of Justice statue outside the U.S. Supreme Court. Image credit: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Spin

Smith brutally murdered a man with a hammer for $140 worth of boots and tools, and now wants to escape justice by claiming low IQ scores excuse his savage crime. He scored between 72 and 78 on five separate tests, consistently above Alabama's threshold,. yetLiberal liberal activists demandare demanding holistic clinical judgment that amounts to dueling expert witnesses helping killers game the system.

Alabama wants to execute someone who was placed in special education as a child, readsand learns at a fourth-grade level andwell performsbelow mathhis like a kindergartenerage. Multiple IQ scores falling within the margin of error for intellectual disability, combined with documented adaptive functioning deficits throughout his life, clearly meet the medical standards that theSCOTUS Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed cannot be reduced to a single number.

Metaculus Prediction

There's a 50% chance that capital punishment will be legal in 41 U.S. States in 2035, according to the Metaculus prediction community.


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© 2025 Improve the News Foundation.

All rights reserved.

Version 6.18.0