The U.S. Supreme Court just issued a brief order granting a temporary stay of execution:
The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice Scalia and by him referred to the Court is granted pending the disposition of the petition for a writ of certiorari. Should the petition for a writ of certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event the petition for a writ of certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court.
A “petition for a writ of certiorari” is a request for the Supreme Court to hear a case, so this stay lasts until the Court either decides Buck’s case on the merits or decides not to decide his case at all. As Marie Diamond reported earlier today, Buck, who is black, was sentenced to die after a psychologist testified that African-Americans are more likely to be violent.
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