Facing the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday morning, Alabama held firm that an inmate should be put to death despite multiple federal courts ruling he is intellectually disabled.

During lengthy questioning as they quizzed the state’s attorneys, the justices said the word “confused” often.

The remarks came in the case of Joseph Smith, an Alabama Death Row inmate who federal judges have repeatedly ruled is intellectually disabled and ineligible for the death penalty. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office appealed and asked the nation’s highest court to allow the state to execute Smith anyway.

On a cold Wednesday morning in D.C., the nine justices listened to both sides and peppered the lawyers with questions, making the hearing stretch to about two hours.

Associate Justice Ke

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