The US Supreme Court blocks execution using nitrogen gas.

The euthanasia lobby developed killing method using nitrogen gas.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Alex Schadenberg

The New York Times published a news article on Thursday, June 11, 2026 reporting that the US Supreme Court decided that execution by nitrogen gas was likely unconstitutional based on it being "cruel and unusual punishment.'

The news article by Rick Rojas and Abbie Van Sickle, for the New York Times reported that:

The Supreme Court’s decision was unsigned and included no reasoning, which is typical in such emergency rulings. Dissent came from three of the court’s conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch.

The Supreme Court decision blocked the execution by nitrogen gas of Jeffery Lee (49) who will remain on death row.

The Supreme Court decision was at the last minute as the execution of Lee by nitrogen hypoxia was scheduled to take place at 6 pm that day. Lee would have been the 8th person in Alabama to be executed by nitrogen gas and the 9th in America.

Lee, who originally opted for execution by nitrogen gas, changed his mind and requested death by firing squad after witnesses from previous deaths by nitrogen hypoxia reported:

“prisoners convulsing, shaking vigorously, and gasping for breaths.”

Why is this important to the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition?

On September 23, 2024 an American woman (64) died inside a Sarco capsule set up near a cabin in Merishausen, Switzerland. The Sarco pod was invented by Philip Nitschke and promoted by The Last Resort assisted suicide group.

The Sarco pod works by strapping a person into the pod, closing the pod and then filling it with nitrogen gas.

Based on those who witnessed nitrogen gas capital punishment deaths, it shouldn't surprise people that the American woman was found dead in the Sarco pod with strangulation marks on her neck as she would have been convulsing, shaking vigorously and gasping for air as she died.

On September 24, 2024 I published an article stating that the Swiss police had made arrests related to the Sarco death pod and on September 29, 2024 I published an article explaining why the Sarco death method constitutes torture.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) , who support assisted suicide, described the nitrogen gas execution death of Kenneth Smith, as a:

method that constitutes torture, violating international human rights treaties ratified by the U.S.

The ACLU also stated that:

Veterinary scientists, who have carried out laboratory studies on animals, have largely ruled nitrogen gas out as a euthanasia method due to ethical concerns. Authorities in the U.S. and Europe have issued guidelines discouraging its use for most mammals, citing potential distress, panic, and seizure-like behavior.

Death by Nitrogen gas is not acceptable for animals and is defined as a method that constitutes torture and yet Nitschke described the death as looking exactly as expected.

The US Supreme Court will likely determine that death by nitrogen hypoxia is cruel and unusual punishment. At the same time, death lobby activists are promoting the development of killing techniques that include death by nitrogen gas.

The Sarco death pod was invented by Philip Nitschke, who lost his medical license in Australia. The 64-year-old American woman who died in the Sarco pod, with the death being organized by The Last Resort Swiss assisted suicide group that was led by Florian Willett, a former spokesperson for the euthanasia group Dignitas and Fiona Stewart, the wife of Philip Nitschke.