Case: James Garfield Broadnax v. Texas, No. 25A899
Lower Court: Texas
Docketed: Unknown
Status: Application
Question Presented: Question not identified.
On February 4, 2026, attorney Steven Craig Herzog submitted an application to Justice Alito seeking a stay of execution for Texas death row inmate James Garfield Broadnax. The application, docketed as No. 25A899, represents a last-resort effort to halt the scheduled execution while underlying legal claims are considered.
Broadnax is a Texas death row inmate whose case has proceeded through the state courts without securing relief. The specific legal claims underlying the stay application have not been identified in the public docket at this stage.
The absence of any identified question presented makes it difficult to assess the strength of the underlying claim. As reporting on similar Texas capital applications has noted, the Court frequently denies such stays, though dissents occasionally signal deeper disagreement among the Justices about the underlying legal issues.
What to watch: whether Justice Alito refers the application to the full Court, and whether any Justice notes a dissent from denial. A referral or noted dissent would suggest that at least one member of the Court views the underlying claim as raising a substantial legal question. The absence of amicus participation and the lack of a defined question presented suggest the application may face a difficult path.