On March 20, 2018, the Supreme Court granted a stay of execution to Missouri death row inmate Russell Bucklew pending the disposition of his certiorari petition. The Chief Justice and Justices Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch would have denied the stay application. Bucklew's cert petition raises the following questions: (1) Should a court evaluating an as-applied challenge to a state’s method of execution based on an inmate’s rare and severe medical condition assume that medical personnel are competent to manage his condition and that the procedure will go as intended? (2) Must evidence comparing a state’s proposed method of execution with an alternative proposed by an inmate be offered via a single witness, or should a court at summary judgment look to the record as a whole to determine whether a factfinder could conclude that the two methods significantly differ in the risks they pose to the inmate? (3) Does the Eighth Amendment require an inmate to prove an adequate alternative method of execution when raising an as-applied challenge to the state’s proposed method of execution based on his rare and severe medical condition?