In SCOTUS Case, a 'Historic Victory for Gender Justice'

The US Supreme Court has ordered a review by the lower courts on a case involving the only woman on death row in Oklahoma. Per NBC News, the nation's highest court issued a 7-2 ruling on Tuesday determining that Brenda Andrew, convicted of murdering her estranged husband, can continue with her claim that prosecutors sex-shamed her during her 2004 trial, making her sex life an unnecessary focus of the proceedings. The decision overturns an appeals court's move to disallow Andrew to move forward with her claim. Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch were the two dissenting SCOTUS votes, saying there was overwhelming evidence that Andrew took part in her husband's murder, per the AP.

• Andrew's legal team had argued that her right to due process was violated due to her treatment in court. That right under the 14th Amendment "forbids the introduction of evidence so unduly prejudicial as to render a criminal trial fundamentally unfair," the Supreme Court wrote in its decision, per NBC.

• Andrew was convicted for the 2001 murder of husband Rob Andrew, who was gunned down when he showed up at the home they once shared to pick up their two kids. Brenda Andrew's boyfriend, James Pavatt, was also prosecuted and convicted and now sits on death row himself.
• Andrew's legal team says that during her 2004 murder trial, prosecutors didn't have enough evidence tying her to the murder, so instead they sex-shamed her, alleging previous affairs she'd had and that she dressed provocatively, among other accusations. Her lawyers say that during closing arguments, prosecutors even displayed her thong underwear and called their client a "slut puppy" (prosecutors say they weren't referring to her directly with that term).
• "Wielding these gendered tropes to justify a conviction and punishment of death is intolerable and poses a threat to everyone who does not follow rigid gender norms," Andrew's lawyer, Jessica Sutton, said after the Supreme Court ruling, per the Oklahoman. Another attorney, Sandra Babcock, calls the high court's decision a "historic victory for gender justice."
• In a statement, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said, "We are disappointed but respect the court's decision." Andrew's case will now head back to the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals to take a new look at the 61-year-old's habeas corpus claim challenging her conviction and death sentence.

(More death row stories.)