The Supreme Court has got to realize just how abusive its actions are. The granting of a last-minute stay should be exceedingly rare, and state courts should be trusted to get the last-minute stuff done (competence etc.)

What’s even worse is that the Court appears now to be looking at the reasoning behind these last-minute denials. That is completely unfair. How can a court be expected to get the reasoning completely perfect in a day? Come on. And who should bear the risk of not perfect reasoning, the state, or the prisoner who files these last-minute motions. This happened in Hill. Had the 11th Circuit said that the equities did not lie in Hill’s favor, the Court would have allowed the execution to go forward. So, because they didn’t accurately predict that the Supreme Court would blow off AEDPA and rule that 1983 claims are cognizable, justice was denied. That’s just not right. I thought it was “judgments”, not “opinions” that were the important thing. In my view, the Supreme Court’s actions here and in Hill’s case are every bit as bad as the actions of the lone Senior Circuit Judge who unilaterally stayed Sedley Alley’s execution (who should, in my view, be impeached and removed from office).