SCOTUS Rules for FL Death Row Inmates

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that Florida’s law restricting death-row prisoners from trying to prove they are mentally impaired is unconstitutional. Florida’s law mandates that prisoners must have an IQ of less than 70 “before being permitted to present any additional evidence of intellectual disability.” Justice Anthony Kennedy delivered the opinion, arguing Florida’s law violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. “This rigid rule creates an unacceptable risk that persons with intellectual disability will be executed, and thus is unconstitutional,” he wrote.