Supreme Court allows Alabama to carry out first-ever execution by nitrogen gas of death row inmate Kenneth Smith

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to stop Alabama from executing an inmate by nitrogen hypoxia, a controversial and untested method that has prompted legal pushback and a rebuke from the United Nations. Kenneth Eugene Smith is scheduled to be the first person in the United States to be put to death with nitrogen gas.

The justices rejected arguments by Smith's lawyers that it would be unconstitutional for the state to attempt a second execution after a failed lethal injection in 2022.

Smith also has asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to block the execution. That court has not yet issued its ruling.