Eight of the nine judges of the US highest court dismissed the attempt by Texas prison authorities to bar the application of John Ramírez, a Christian member of a Baptist church.
Justice Clarence Thomas, a staunch conservative, was the only dissenting vote.
Ramirez, 37, was scheduled to die by lethal injection in a Texas prison on September 8 for killing a store clerk, a father of nine, during a 2004 robbery.
Ramírez brought legal action to stop the execution because Texas authorities would not allow his pastor, Dana Moore, to have physical contact with him as he died, or to pray aloud beside him in the execution chamber.
Texas authorities allow a spiritual advisor to be in the room during an execution, but they must remain silent and are not allowed to touch a prisoner for security reasons.
The Supreme Court issued a last-minute stay of execution and agreed to hear his case.
In his brief on the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts held that there was “ample evidence that Ramírez’s beliefs are sincere” and that the laying on of hands and prayer were “traditional forms of religious exercise.” .
He noted that there had been no “compelling government interest” in banning the practice and that there was a long tradition in the United States of allowing spiritual advisors to pray with the condemned, citing as an example the execution of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassins, or of Nazis after World War II.
Roberts noted that the Texas ban was relatively recent.
“We agree that the government has a compelling interest in avoiding disruption of any kind and maintaining solemnity and decorum in the execution room,” said the Chief Justice.
“But there is no indication in the file that Pastor Moore could cause the kind of disturbance that the defendants fear,” he said.
In his dissent, Thomas, one of six conservative justices on the court, accused Ramírez of “filing abusive litigation to delay his execution” and engaging in “games.”
The Supreme Court rarely steps in to stop executions, but has done so in recent cases where prisoners have argued they are being denied access to spiritual advisers.
Several states have restricted the presence of spiritual advisors from the execution chamber, but the Court ruled last year that states could not ban this outright.
