Hamm v. Smith · ¶47

In Hall v. Florida, 572 U. S. 701, the Atkins claimant had seven valid scores between 71 and 80, and Florida sought to execute him based on Florida precedent requiring an IQ score below 70 before allowing additional evidence of intellectual disability. 572 U. S., at 707.The lower courts had denied relief, but this Court reversed, reasoning that “Florida's rule disregard[ed] established medical practice in two interrelated ways.” Id., at 712. First, “[i]t [took] an IQ score as final and conclusive evidence of a defendant's intellectual capacity, when experts in the field would consider other evidence.” Ibid. Second, it “relie[d] on a purportedly scientifc measurement of the defendant's abilities, his IQ score, while refusing to recognize that the score is, on its own terms, imprecise.” Ibid. The Court acknowledged that “the analysis of multiple IQ scores jointly is a complicated…

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