Lee’s case became the latest to test the legality of nitrogen gas executions. A lower court had ruled the method is unconstitutionally cruel.

The Supreme Court said Alabama can't execute inmate Jeffery Lee using nitrogen gas, a controversial method a lower court said is likely unconstitutional.

Alabama is waging a last-minute legal fight to execute a man with nitrogen gas on Thursday night, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to set aside a judge's findings that the method violates the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The Supreme Court declined a request from Alabama to move forward with a scheduled execution using nitrogen hypoxia, with Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissenting.

Alabama is waging a last-minute legal fight to execute a man with nitrogen gas on Thursday night. The state is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn findings that the method violates

Moments after a federal judge permanently blocked his execution by nitrogen gas, Lee told NBC News he was prepared to keep fighting. His fate remains uncertain.

The U.S. Supreme Court says Alabama cannot proceed with a nitrogen gas execution after a lower court ruled that the method is unconstitutional. The justices declined to lift an injunction blocking the state from carrying out the nation’s ninth execution by nitrogen gas.

The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing Alabama’s emergency request to reinstate the nitrogen gas execution of Jeffery Lee, hours before his scheduled death. A federal judge has now declared the method unconstitutional,