After an analysis of 1,000 cases, USA Today reports that the Supreme Court is granting fewer stays of execution.

The court continues to resolve disputes over when prisoners can make last-ditch appeals, and some justices have expressed concern about the adequacy of court-appointed lawyers in capital cases. But overall, the nation's court of last resort has made it clear — with unusual unanimity and little public discussion — that it wants lower courts to carry more of the burden in screening death-row appeals, and that it wants a small role in the debate over capital punishment.

"The court simply isn't looking at individual cases as much" as it did until the early 1990s, says Stephen Bright, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta. "The justices want the court of last resort to be state supreme courts and the federal courts of appeals. I think the Rehnquist court ... would like to be out of the business of reviewing capital cases."