Why do all Florida death cases go to Justice Thomas?
Here's an explanation as to why all applications for stay of execution in Florida cases are submitted to Justice Thomas.
If you’ve paid attention to applications for stays of execution filed at the U.S. Supreme Court from Florida cases, you’ve probably noticed that they are all submitted to Justice Thomas. For example, here’s the docket from Duane Owen’s pending application for a stay of execution:1
A Reporter’s Guide to Applications, published by the U.S. Supreme Court, states that “Applications are addressed to a specific Justice, according to federal judicial circuit. The United States is divided into 13 federal circuits, with each Justice assigned to a specific circuit or circuits . . . .”
Justice Thomas is the justice assigned to the Eleventh Circuit, which is the circuit that encompasses Florida.
Here’s the full list of the Court’s current assignments, as listed in A Reporter’s Guide to Applications:
According to A Reporter’s Guide to Applications, “[t]he assignments usually change only when the Court’s membership changes . . . . “ If the assigned justice is unavailable, “[t]he application goes to the next Justice junior in seniority; the Chief Justice ranks first, followed by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.” Therefore, if Justice Thomas is unavailable, a Florida application would go to Justice Alito.
As the assigned justice, Justice Thomas can act unilaterally to deny the application. Note this is different than how petitions are decided. The assigned justice cannot act unilaterally on a petition. Petitions (like Owen’s pending petition for writ of certiorari) are voted on by the entire Court. A Reporter’s Guide to Applications explains different scenarios for how a simultaneously filed application and petition may be decided.
My thoughts are with everyone involved in the warrant and execution process.
Interesting that Thomas, arguably the neo-con “Good Ol’ Boys’” token Negro, is the #nefariousNewWorldOrder Establishment’s gatekeeper of State Murder for the eastern “Deep South.”