Updated Oct. 28, 2:20 p.m.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday granted Oklahoma's request to overturn a lower court’s ruling and allow the state to carry out its first execution in more than six years.
The high court issued its order just hours before 60-year-old John Marion Grant's execution, set for 4 p.m. Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan wanted to deny the state's application. Justice Neil Gorsuch did not take part in consideration of the application or the decision on it.
A three-member panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued temporary stays of execution Wednesday for Grant and Julius Jones. Oklahoma Attorney General John O'Connor’s office filed its appeal to the nation’s highest court Wednesday night, hours before Grant's scheduled execution on Thursday.
The 10th Circuit panel ruled that a federal judge in Oklahoma erred when he removed Grant, Jones and three other inmates from a lawsuit challenging Oklahoma's lethal injection protocols.