On Thursday the Court issued a stay on the execution of Texas inmate Carlton Turner.

07A272 TURNER, CARLTON A. V. TEXAS

The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice Scalia and by him referred to the Court is granted pending the timely filing and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari. Should the petition for a writ of certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event the petition for a writ of certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the issuance of the mandate of this Court.

Oddly enough, just two days earlier the Court had declined to offer a stay in the highly-publicized case of Michael Richard. There are a number of inmates around the country who are expected to be executed before the Court offers a ruling in this case, presumably around mid-April or early-May, including Jeffrey Landrigan of Schriro v. Landrigan fame.

It looks like most states are going to stay executions at least until the Court hands down a ruling in the case in question, Baze v. Rees. Texas is the only state that looks to be defiant in the wake of the Court’s acceptance of the case last Tuesday.