AUSTIN, Texas _ Chaplains will no longer be allowed in the rooms in which Texas death row inmates are executed, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice announced Wednesday.
All chaplains and spiritual advisers will continue to have access to the viewing room, where people can watch the execution, department officials said.
The decision is in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on March 28 that postponed the execution of Texas inmate Patrick Murphy because his Buddhist religious adviser was not allowed in the execution chamber. Texas officials only allow prison employees in the execution chamber, and Texas only employs Christian and Muslim chaplains.
In his concurring opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that Texas should either allow all spiritual advisers in an execution chamber or none at all.
"As this Court has repeatedly held, governmental discrimination against religion _ in particular, discrimination against religious persons, religious organizations, and religious speech _ violates the Constitution," Kavanaugh wrote.
