Supreme Court backs a prisoner who sought his pastor's touch at the time of execution

The U.S. Supreme ruled Thursday that condemned prisoners are entitled to have religious advisers present in the death chamber to pray over them and touch them in a limited way.

The decision was the latest and by far the most definitive in a series of cases that have come to to the court, dividing the justices and even embarrassing them at times with contradictory rulings that appeared to be more favorable for Christian spiritual advisers than for minority religions.

Thursday's ruling, however, was clear, and close to unanimous, with only Justice Clarence Thomas in dissent.

Writing for the court majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that when Texas denied a request from death row inmate John Henry Ramirez to have his Baptist minister present in the death chamber to pray over him and touch him, it likely violated a federal law aimed at protecting the religious rights of people confined to institutions, including prisons. The chief justice noted pointedly that other states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons allow audible prayer and touching by a spiritual adviser at executions. And he said that if "states adopt clear rules, it should be the rare case that requires last-minute resort to the federal courts."

To underline the point, he said that if Texas reschedules the Ramirez execution without changing its policies, the lower courts, which previously ruled in favor of the state, should allow the pastor for Ramirez to be present, to pray over him, and to touch him.

Roberts noted that audible prayer at executions has "a rich history" dating back to the time of the founding of the nation and before, and that Texas only in the last few years barred religious advisers from being present to pray over the condemned in the execution chamber.

Addressing the state's current objections, Roberts noted that a state may limit the time for the prayer, and may require spiritual advisers to remove their hands at some point so that there is no interference with the administering of the lethal injection.

This story will be updated

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