A federal judge halted an execution set for today, stating there are still legal issues to resolve and that "the public is not served by short-circuiting legitimate judicial process" and the inmates had presented evidence showing that the government's plan to use only pentobarbital to carry out the executions "poses an unconstitutionally significant risk of serious pain." The Justice Department immediately appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which set the deadline for briefing for Monday, July 20, 2020, and the Supreme Court. The government's decision to move forward with Mr. Lee's execution is opposed by the victims' family members.
Also scheduled to be executed this week were Wesley Purkey and Dustin Lee Honken. Their executions are stayed by the Court's ruling.
It was also revealed on Monday that a Bureau of Prisons staff member who attended some meetings regarding the execution at the United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute, in Indiana, where Mr. Lee was to be executed, tested positive for COVID-19.
Separately, a judge in Indiana had also ordered the executions blocked, granting a motion from relatives of the victims of one of the four murders that led to the new execution orders. A federal appeals court threw that order out, and the relatives are now asking the Supreme Court to reimpose the district court's stay. (previous post located here and here).