Troy Davis, the condemned Georgia inmate who maintains that he is not the man who murdered a Savannah Police officer 20 years ago, will stay alive long enough to try and prove his innocence, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday. Siding with Davis were Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. Sonia Sotomayor, who was sworn in earlier this month, did not vote on the inmate’s petition. Stevens ordered a federal judge to “receive testimony and make findings of fact as to whether evidence that could not have been obtained at trial clearly establishes petitioner’s innocence.” Davis, whose accusers have recanted their testimony against him in recent years, has found support among a diversity of high-profile figures, including the pope; former President Jimmy Carter; former South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu; actors Susan Sarandon and Harry Belafonte; and a host of current and former lawmakers from across the political spectrum. In recent years, Davis has seen his execution halted three times. In June, his supporters delivered petitions bearing about 60,000 signatures to Chatham County, Ga., District Attorney Larry Chisolm, demanding a new trial. Although there was no physical evidence tying the then 19-year-old Davis to the 1989 killing of Officer Mark MacPhail, he was convicted and condemned to death on the testimony of witnesses. Over the past 18 years, seven of the nine witnesses have withdrawn their claims. As expected Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, the high court’s only African-American, objected to the court’s decision Monday, calling it a “fool’s errand.” Wrote Scalia, “Petitioner’s claim is a sure loser. Transferring his petition to the [federal] District Court is a confusing exercise that can serve no purpose except to delay the state’s execution of its lawful criminal judgment.” Last October, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene, and a federal appeals court in Georgia granted a temporary stay of execution.

 Will the nation’s highest court ponder the case of Georgia death-row inmate Troy Anthony Davis before they take their annual summer recess? If not, Davis, who was convicted in the 1991 murder of an off-duty Savannah Police officer, must wait until the fall to hear his fate in the last-ditch appeal for his life. In the years since his conviction and subsequent death sentence, seven of the nine people who testified against him have recanted their testimonies. In fact, Sylvester “Red” Coles, the first person to finger Davis, now 40, in the murder, has himself been implicated. Moreover, there has never been any physical evidence linking Davis to the shooting death of the 27-year-old officer, Mark Allen MacPHail in the Burger King parking lot two decades ago. Laura Moye of Amnesty International USA’s Death Penalty Abolition Campaign says that even if the high court doesn’t hear Davis’ case before their break it is not necessarily a bad thing. That’s because it “buys more time for all of the advocates to get more publicity on the case,” she said. Davis’ fate essentially would be left in the hands of Chatham County District Attorney Larry Chisolm to pursue Davis’ fourth execution warrant if the courts decide not to hear Davis’ petition. So far, Davis’ execution has been put on hold three times. Support from Davis has come from across the spectrum. Judges, politicians and international leaders have pushed for a new trial. Last month, more than two dozen jurists and federal prosecutors filed a petition saying that Davis can show “new, never reviewed evidence that strongly points to his innocence.” U.S. Rep. John Lewis wants a new trial, and former President Jimmy Carter and Pope Benedict XVI have asked that Davis be spared death by lethal injection.

Georgia Man Hopes High Court Will Spare His Life Troy

Anthony Davis, the Black Georgia death-row inmate whose life was spared in October, just three days before he was to be executed, is hoping the U.S. Supreme Court will provide him with yet another chance to prove that he’s no killer. Accused of shooting to death a 27-year-old off-duty Savannah, Ga., police officer 20 years ago, Davis’ attorneys are asking that the case be remanded to a federal judge for a hearing on his claims of innocence. Read more.

Race of Supreme Court Justice Doesn’t Matter to Most

It appears that most Americans aren’t as concerned about the race and gender of the next Supreme Court as they are about level of experience. A new CNN/Opinion Research Group poll shows that while the focus in the media has centered on whether President Obama will nominate a woman or a Hispanic or an African American to fill the slot left by retiring Justice David Souter, most Americans say that such issues are “not important at all.” Read the rest.

White supremacist William Mark Mize, who was scheduled to be put to death Tuesday, was spared – at least temporarily – because of a court technicality. Read why.