{"ID":63451,"name":"Nance v. Ward","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/cases\/2021\/21-439","view_count":0,"docket_number":"21-439","additional_docket_numbers":null,"manner_of_jurisdiction":"Writ of \u003Ci\u003Ecertiorari\u003C\/i\u003E","first_party":"Michael Nance","second_party":"Commissioner, Georgia Department of Corrections and Warden, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison","timeline":[{"event":"Granted","dates":[1642140000],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/55035"},{"event":"Argued","dates":[1650862800],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/55081"},{"event":"Decided","dates":[1655960400],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/55125"}],"lower_court":{"ID":15,"name":"United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/taxonomy\/term\/15"},"facts_of_the_case":"\u003Cp\u003EIn 1993, Michael Wade Nance robbed a bank, and, in the process of fleeing, killed a person. In 1997, a jury convicted Nance of murder, and he was sentenced to death. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed his death sentence and rejected a petition for collateral relief. Nance then filed a federal habeas petition; the district court denied the petition, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThen, in 2020, Nance filed an action under 42 U.S.C. \u00a7 1983 alleging that the State\u2019s lethal-injection protocol was unconstitutional as applied to him because of two medical issues. The district court granted the State\u2019s motion to dismiss Nance\u2019s complaint, concluding that it was untimely and failed to state a claim. On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals concluded that because the relief Nance sought implied the invalidity of his death sentence, his complaint must be construed as a habeas petition, and because he had already filed an earlier habeas petition, it was properly considered a \u201csuccessive\u201d petition, over which a district court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction.\u003C\/p\u003E\n","question":"\u003Cp\u003EWhat is the proper legal procedure for a death-row inmate\u2019s challenge to the method by which the state intends to execute?\u003C\/p\u003E\n","conclusion":"\u003Cp\u003ETitle 42 U.S.C. \u00a7 1983 is the procedural vehicle appropriate for a prisoner\u2019s method-of-execution claim even if an order granting the relief requested would necessitate a change in state law. Justice Elena Kagan authored the majority opinion of the Court.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBoth Section 1983 and the federal habeas statute allow a prisoner to complain of \u201cunconstitutional treatment at the hands of state officials.\u201d However, Section 1983 has an implicit exception for actions that lie \u201cwithin the core of habeas corpus\u201d\u2014that is, relief that would \u201cnecessarily imply the invalidity of his conviction or sentence.\u201d In two prior cases, the Court allowed a prisoner to bring a method-of-execution claim under Section 1983, but those cases did not require a change in state law, only in an agency\u2019s uncodified protocol. In contrast, here, Nance\u2019s requested relief would require Georgia to change its statute to carry out Nance\u2019s execution by\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003Efiring squad. However, this requirement is not a substantial impediment, nor would it necessarily imply the invalidity of his death sentence. Thus, Section 1983 remains the proper vehicle for his method-of-execution claim.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJustice Amy Coney Barrett authored a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch joined, arguing that the Court erroneously considered the law as it could exist, rather than as it is. Justice Barrett argued that because the relief Nance requests precludes his execution under current state law, habeas is the proper vehicle for seeking that relief.\u003C\/p\u003E\n","advocates":[{"advocate":{"ID":62300,"name":"Matthew S. Hellman","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/people\/matthew_s_hellman","view_count":0,"last_name":"Hellman","roles":null,"thumbnail":null,"length_of_service":0,"identifier":"matthew_s_hellman"},"advocate_description":"for the Petitioner","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_advocate\/case_advocate\/23256"},{"advocate":{"ID":63273,"name":"Masha G. 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