The death penalty ranks among America’s most divisive issues. But on one point we suspect advocates and detractors agree: the right of a condemned man to have a minister of his own faith inside the execution chamber at the hour of his death.

In recent weeks the Supreme Court has considered two last-minute appeals from men denied this consolation. The Court allowed the execution of a Muslim prisoner in Alabama to go ahead without an imam with him. But the Court stayed the execution of a Buddhist in Texas, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh writing that the state could either allow a Buddhist minister in the room or change the rules so that no ministers can be in the execution chamber.

…

This should not be hard for reasonable people to resolve. Mr. Burton’s defense team, which includes lawyers from the Stanford Law School Religious Liberty Clinic, argues persuasively that allowing only a Christian minister in the execution chamber violates the Constitution’s Establishment Clause by preferring one faith over others, and the Free Exercise Clause by denying Mr. Burton a minister from his own faith.