Hamm v. Smith · ¶69

Today, the Court rewards Smith's efforts. It dismisses the State's petition challenging the lower courts' vacatur of his death sentence under Atkins. But Smith is not insuffciently intelligent to be executed. He can read at an 11thgrade level. He took five IQ tests and did not once receive a score of 70 or below, instead scoring 75, 74, 72, 78, and 74. The lower courts held that he could not be executed based only on the hypothetical possibility that these IQ scores were all wrong and that his IQ is in fact 70 or below. I join Justice Alito's opinion because it persuasively explains why that approach is statistically indefensible.

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