Alabama Asks High Court to Block Pastor from Death Chamber (1)

An Alabama inmate can have his pastor in the death chamber if the state executes him as planned, a federal appeals court said in a ruling that the state challenged at the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The trial court abused its discretion in denying Willie B. Smith III a preliminary injunction, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit said on Wednesday. Smith’s execution was scheduled for Thursday but has been stayed by the same court for another reason.

The religious issue is a recurring one and a rare winner for death-row inmates at the Supreme Court, which recently ...