Washington DC - The Supreme Court blocked Alabama from executing a man on death row by using nitrogen gas on Thursday, in a rare last-minute intervention after a lower court ruled the method was likely unconstitutional.

Jeffery Lee (49) was scheduled to be put to death Thursday via nitrogen gas hypoxia for the murder of two people during a robbery in 1998.

A federal judge ruled on Tuesday against the use of nitrogen gas to carry out the sentence, with the state of Alabama appealing the decision to the Supreme Court.

"The application for stay or vacatur...referred to the Court is denied," the Supreme Court said in an unsigned order issued Thursday evening, adding that three of its nine justices – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch – dissented.

The order did not give a reason for the decision, which is typical for emergency rulings.

The United Nations has denounced the use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment as cruel and inhumane.

Fifteen executions have been carried out in the US this year – eight in Florida, four in Texas, two in Oklahoma, and one in Arizona.

There were 47 executions in the country last year, the most since 2009, when 52 people were put to death.

Florida carried out the most executions in 2025, with 19, followed by Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas, where there were five each.