Reposted by Chase Teeples
BREAKING: SCOTUS’s Republican appointees will allow Tennessee to kill Christa Pike tonight, vacating a stay of execution entered by the Sixth Circuit this morning. The three Democratic appointees dissent.
![SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 26A428
KENNETH NELSEN, WARDEN v. CHRISTA GAIL PIKE
ON APPLICATION TO VACATE STAY
[September 30, 2026]
The application to vacate stay of execution of sentence of death presented to JUSTICE KAVANAUGH and by him referred to the Court is granted. The September 30, 2026 order of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Cir-cuit, case No. 26-5864, granting a stay of execution is vacated.
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, with whom JUSTICE KAGAN and
JUSTICE JACKSON join, dissenting.
The State of Tennessee is set to execute Christa Pike for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. Earlier today, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a stay of Pike's execution solely to "adequately address and resolve" the issues presented in Pike's pending application for relief. Order in In re Pike, No. 26-5864, ECF Doc. 10-2, p. 2. Tennessee now asks this Court to vacate that stay and permit it to proceed with Pike's execution today. Stunningly, the Court acquiesces. Because its decision clears the way for the State to execute Pike before her still-pending legal challenges to her conviction can be properly considered, I respectfully dissent.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:36eqtmzysqf7wsslczw4uxcd/bafkreibgvwhbb2ltvp3257xdel7sx32h5jde5m5dcw7plkpju4n7ox5hbi)
Chase Teeples
@nchaseteeples.bsky.social
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Plaintiffs' employment lawyer & federal litigator. Views are my own. Lots of posts about law & politics, some about golf & music.
![This appeal has been removed from tentative calendar 6 and will be scheduled for oral argument on Monday, November 2, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. in Atlanta, Georgia. A calendar will be issued separately. [25-14507, 26-10674]
Removed from Tentative Calendar
Calendar issued as to cases to be orally argued on 11/02/2026 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Counsel are directed to electronically acknowledge receipt of this calendar by docketing the Calendar Receipt Acknowledged event in ECF (a document upload is not required). [25-14507, 26-10674]
Main Doc
Calendar Issued
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Assigned to tentative calendar number 6 in Birmingham during the week of
JANUARY 18, 2027(Please note change of date.). [25-14507, 26-10674] [Entered:
09/21/2026 10:05 AM]
Main Doc
Assigned to Tentative Calendar
Download PDF
Assigned to tentative calendar number 6 in Birmingham during the week of January 11, 2027. [25-14507, 26-10674] [Entered: 09/14/2026 12:51 PM]
Main Doc
Assigned to Tentative Calendar](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vrmx2e5gsi23srsy2n7vljvb/bafkreifgk7mzbmjpipzpxi5n5awez6iuand6tpufksaxdk57ygnotjwuhq)
![As we observed recently in Catholic Charities, which enjoined a Michigan conversion therapy ban similar to the one at issue in Chiles, no “viewpoint-discriminatory restriction” on speech has ever survived strict scrutiny. 162 F.4th at 696. Supreme Court precedent makes clear that Tennessee has no compelling “interest in shielding its citizens from information about activities outside [its] borders.” Bigelow, 421 U.S. at 827–28; see also Katt v. Dykhouse, 983 F.2d 690, 695 (6th Cir. 1992). Furthermore, even crediting Tennessee’s passing suggestion that it has a compelling interest in protecting “the parental right to direct medical treatment,” the Recruitment Provision is not narrowly tailored to that interest. Tennessee’s law is “wildly underinclusive when judged against [this] asserted justification,” Brown, 564 U.S. at 802, because it criminalizes speech that encourages a minor to get an abortion yet is silent on speech encouraging a minor to carry a pregnancy to term with or without parental involvement. Thus, the Recruitment Provision cannot survive strict scrutiny and is unconstitutional as applied to Welty and Behn.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:24vva42nxim6zbcmnozegoef/bafkreidtwonhkiropl4utedwirqonvufxabtzwwvmr53xoxvn6bq2yirmi)
![With respect to the claim that Ms. Mecklenburg improperly “excused” 9 Case: 1:25-cr-00693 Document #: 261 Filed: 09/24/26 Page 10 of 16 PageID #:2523 grand jurors who disagreed with the Government’s case, the United States did not point the Court to the Department of Justice, Office of Legal Education’s 2023 Federal Grand Jury Practice Manual (“GJM”). Specifically, Section 4.4 of the GJM instructs DOJ attorneys, in pertinent part, that “[a]ny jurors who indicate an interest that may interfere with a fair, impartial, and just decision concerning indictment should be asked on the record whether they can put aside any personal bias or prejudice and decide the matter fairly and objectively.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:24vva42nxim6zbcmnozegoef/bafkreighs2ta6vwuil3bu2oc326dz5nyjvhbzifaeijgrrv55cthtnkz44)
![As of filing, Mr. Floca has determined that he "will be extending the temporary closure for an additional week, until September 30, 2026," because "the collection of information is ongoing and [he] remaints] concerned about the documented hazards and inability to provide safe egress at this time in light of those hazards."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vrmx2e5gsi23srsy2n7vljvb/bafkreid6rvy6jsaj5ydjadyyjjop3patlk45kfrmweezknw35vnlocymmu)
![MINUTE ORDER: In light of Defendants' [27] Supplemental Declaration, it is hereby ORDERED that, to the extent Plaintiffs request an emergency hearing in their [25] Notice, their request is DENIED.
Plaintiffs may file any supplemental notice informing the Court of any relevant factual developments no earlier than 6:00 p.m. today, September 24, 2026. Signed by Judge Timothy J. Kelly on 09/24/26.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vrmx2e5gsi23srsy2n7vljvb/bafkreihtqftfa74qcqpas7rd3en7d2uq7rtrbh5w37yev3ozuwpg4dzimi)
