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

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/24/ [login to see] /supreme-court-backs-a-prisoner-who-sought-his-pastors-touch-at-the-time-of-execu
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 came in the case of John Henry Ramirez, convicted in the brutal murder of Pablo Castro, a father of nine, who was stabbed to death as he was closing up the convenience store where he worked.

The court's 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 Ramirez to have his Baptist minister present in the death chamber to pray over him and touch him, it likely violated a federal law. The law, called the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons act, RLUIPA, is aimed at protecting the religious rights of people confined to prisons and other institutions.