Supreme Court Dismisses Key Death Penalty Case on Intellectual Disability Evaluation

The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the closely watched death penalty case of Hamm v. Smith, which questioned how courts should evaluate intellectual disability in capital cases. In a 5-4 decision issued on May 21, 2026, but reported on May 29, the Court dismissed the case as 'improvidently granted,' meaning the justices decided they should not have agreed to hear it. This leaves the lower court's ruling standing, protecting Joseph Smith from execution under the Eighth Amendment, and maintains the constitutional rule that people with intellectual disability cannot be executed.