Today in Supreme Court History: July 22

King v. Greene, 524 U.S. 965 (decided July 22, 1998): denying stay of execution and also certiorari; Stevens and Ginsburg would have granted stay (i.e., they didn’t want this guy ever to be executed); King had kicked, choked and stabbed a woman to death; the Fourth Circuit had rejected arguments that he wasn’t properly “Mirandized” (judges hate when lawyers use that term) and wasn’t provided with a lawyer when he asked

Socialist Workers Party v. Rockefeller, 400 U.S. 1201 (decided July 22, 1970): in this dispute over a party’s candidates getting onto the ballot, Harlan denies reconsideration of his July 11 order denying stay because served along with his carrot juice that morning was a letter from the Attorney General saying the candidates would be allowed on the ballot provided they comply with all the other (non-contested) requirements

Gregg v. Georgia, 429 U.S. 1301 (decided July 22, 1976): Powell, master of explaining the obvious, grants stay of numerous executions pending hearing of appeal because “if the executions in these cases were carried out before the Court hears the appeal, the harm to petitioners would be irreparable. (Well, yeah.) In addition, the cases would then be moot.” As it turned out, the convictions were upheld by the Court in Proffit v. Florida, decided October 4, 1976, and by the next day the mootness issue itself became moot.