Filed: December 23, 2013

Court: United States Supreme Court

Overview: Amicus brief urging the court to reject an arbitrary cutoff for IQ scores in making the intellectual disability determination and emphasizing the importance of courts consulting clinical standards in their analysis.

Excerpt: “After decades of intensive study, mental disability professionals have a substantial understanding of what an individual’s score on an IQ test can tell us and what it cannot. There is a strong consensus among psychologists, psychiatrists, and other clinicians, as well as their professional associations, that imposing an arbitrary IQ cutoff score of 70 is wholly inconsistent with our scientific understanding of these instruments. Florida courts responsible for adjudicating Atkins cases are precluded from fairly evaluating all of the essential evidence that has probative value in making that determination. Evidence about a defendant’s impaired adaptive functioning—in this case, clearly impaired starting in childhood—cannot be ignored merely because of a judicially-imposed rule which is neither clinically nor scientifically justified. In Atkins, this Court invited States to devise ‘appropriate procedures to enforce the constitutional restriction’ against executing individuals with [intellectual disability]. The Florida Supreme Court’s arbitrary rule prevents consideration of relevant evidence and excludes from the Constitution’s protection a considerable portion of those persons who have mental retardation. It therefore cannot be deemed “appropriate.” Effectively reducing the group of individuals entitled to that protection by means of an arbitrary rule can hardly be deemed to be “enforcement” of the right that this Court announced.”

Case Documents:

• Hall Amicus Brief

Press Releases:

• Disability Case at the U.S. Supreme Court: What You Need to Know
• The Arc Urges U.S. Supreme Court to Protect Constitutional Rights of People With Intellectual Disability on Death Row
• The Arc Responds to U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Hall v. Florida
• The Arc Responds to Florida Supreme Court’s Decision to Vacate Death Sentence for Freddie Lee Hall in Florida

Related Media:

• New York Times: Court Extends Curbs on the Death Penalty in a Florida Ruling
• Slate: The Death Penalty Just Got a Tiny Bit Saner
• Washington Post: The death penalty is incompatible with human dignity
• NPR: Florida’s IQ Limit For Death Penalty Isn’t Constitutional, Supreme Court Says
• Disability Scoop: In Shift, Supreme Court Moves Away From ‘Mental Retardation’