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Cite as:  592 U. S. ____ (2021) 

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BREYER, J., dissenting 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 20–927 (20A134) 
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UNITED STATES v. DUSTIN JOHN HIGGS 

ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI BEFORE JUDGMENT 
TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH 
CIRCUIT AND APPLICATION TO VACATE STAY 

[January 15, 2021] 

The petition for writ of certiorari before judgment to the 
United  States  Court  of  Appeals  for  the  Fourth  Circuit  is 
granted.  The December 29, 2020 order of the United States 
District Court for the District of Maryland is reversed, and 
the case is remanded to the Court of Appeals with instruc-
tions to remand to the District Court for the prompt desig-
nation of Indiana under 18 U. S. C. §3596(a). 

The  application  to  vacate  stay  presented  to  THE  CHIEF 
JUSTICE and by him referred to the Court is granted.  The 
January 13, 2021 order of the Court of Appeals granting a 
stay is vacated. 

JUSTICE KAGAN would deny the petition for writ of certi-

orari before judgment and the application. 

JUSTICE BREYER, dissenting. 
Last July the Federal Government executed Daniel Lee. 
Lee’s execution was the first federal execution in seventeen 
years.  The Government’s execution of Dustin Higgs tonight 
will  be  its  thirteenth  in  six months.  I wrote  in  July  that 
“the resumption of federal  executions  promises to provide 
examples  that  illustrate  the  difficulties  of  administering 
the death penalty consistent with the Constitution.”  Barr 
v.  Lee,  591  U. S.  ___,  ___  (2020)  (dissenting  opinion)  (slip 
op., at 2).  The cases that have come before us provide sev-
eral of those examples. 

I agree with much of what JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR  says in