WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court grappled Wednesday with how to consider multiple IQ scores when determining if a defendant is intellectually disabled and thus should be spared from the death penalty under the Eighth Amendment.
The case stems from an Alabama man, Joseph Clifton Smith, 55, who was convicted and sentenced to die for beating a man to death in 1997. After Smith challenged his sentence, lower courts ruled that he is intellectually disabled and ineligible for execution.
But Alabama seeks to implement the death penalty that was originally imposed on Smith because it argues that Smith is not, in fact, intellectually disabled. The state wants guidance on how to handle multiple scores, such as Smith’s.
Smith has taken five IQ tests throughout his life and received scores that range from 72-78. When considering the margin of error, his lowest score could fall below 70. People with IQs below 70 are generally considered intellectually disabled, according to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. But experts don’t solely rely on scores to make that determination and instead take a holistic approach.
In ruling that Smith is intellectually disabled, the lower court judges took such an approach and considered other factors from Smith’s life, including taking learning-disabled classes in school and performing math at a kindergarten level.
The Supreme Court ruled more than two decades ago in Atkins v. Virginia that states can not execute defendants who are intellectually disabled under the Eighth Amendment. Later cases before the Court placed further restrictions on the death penalty.
“Today was more about providing clarity to the trial court, allowing them to use objective, reliable data, and providing them a means in which they can assess those IQ scores before they have to move into any additional analysis,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall told Alabama Daily News after the oral arguments.
Robert Overing, Alabama’s attorney who argued the case before the Court, added that the state is not trying to “execute the mildly intellectually disabled.” During oral arguments, he argued that states should be able to consider the cumulative effect of multiple IQ scores when determining intellectual disability, which “reduces error and yields a more accurate estimate.”
During oral arguments, the attorney representing Smith, Seth Waxman, argued for the holistic approach when determining intellectual disability, even when multiple IQ scores are at play.
“Every court in Alabama and this Court and every other court in every other state that I am aware of understands that raw observed test scores are not the definition of true IQ,” Waxman said.
Under Alabama law, intellectual disability is defined in three prongs: an IQ of 70 or below, significantly subaverage intellectual functioning, and issues appearing before a person turns 18.
The Court struggled with how it would ultimately handle the question, with conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas appearing to indicate they would side with Alabama. Liberal Justice Elena Kagan said courts should consider the additional evidence when IQ scores are close to 70.
The United States and 20 other states agreed with Alabama in this case, while groups that advocate for those with disabilities wrote a brief in support of Smith that argued intellectual disability should not solely be based on IQ scores.
Alabama previously appealed this case to the Supreme Court, which sent it back to the lower federal court, where the judges affirmed that in their determination of Smith’s intellectual disability, they looked at the other factors beyond IQ scores.
The Court is expected to decide the Alabama case by the end of June.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.