The US Supreme Court on Thursday vacated a stay of execution for Alabama death row inmate Matthew Reeves, reversing the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday decision to uphold the stay amidst concerns that the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) did not accommodate Reeves’ intellectual disability when he was asked to choose the method of his execution.

In 2018, Alabama voted to allow execution by nitrogen hypoxia, which proponents argue is less painful and faster than lethal injection. Death row inmates can sign a form to chose execution by nitrogen hypoxia instead of execution by lethal injection. Reeves did not make a selection on the form and later claimed that he would have selected execution by nitrogen hypoxia.

Reeves asserted that ADOC violated his rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). He argued that he was not provided with an adequate opportunity to select the new execution method. Reeves explains that the prison knew he was a “qualified individual with a disability” but did not provide Reeves with a qualified expert to help Reeves understand the form.

A speech pathologist hired by Reeves determined that he can read at a 4th grade level and can comprehend at a 1st grade level. The speech pathologist used a software program to determine that an 11th grade reading level is required to understand the form used to select execution by nitrogen hypoxia.

“Notably, this is not a case where a defendant has asked a district court to enjoin a state from executing him altogether, regardless of the method of execution,” the opinion from the circuit court’s three-judge panel read. “Mr. Reeves requested only that the court prevent the ADOC from executing him by any method other than the one he would have chosen but for the defendants’ alleged violation of the ADA, pending resolution of his ADA claim.”

But in a 5-4 decision without comment, the US Supreme Court vacated the stay following Alabama’s appeal on Thursday. Justice Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justices Breyer and Kagan, citing deference to the two lower courts that had agreed to pause his execution due to possible disability law violations. Justice Barrett noted that she would have denied the application for review.

Reeves was pronounced dead at approximately 9:24PM on Thursday.