Will the Supreme Court's decision to review the constitutionality of the death penalty by lethal injection cause states to postpone scheduled executions? Alabama stayed an execution that was to have taken place last night.

Gov. Bob Riley said the state would not execute an inmate named Tommy Arthur while it came up with a new formula for lethal injection. State officials said they wanted to make sure prisoners were completely unconscious before they were killed.

Texas would have killed a man last night, but the Supreme Court stayed the execution.

Although the court gave no reason for its decision, the inmate, Carlton Turner Jr., had appealed to the court after it agreed on Tuesday to consider the constitutionality of lethal injection, the most commonly used method of execution in the United States. The decision suggests that until it issues a ruling on lethal injection, the court may be receptive to requests to delay such executions, at least for defendants whose cases raise no procedural issues.