of happy birthday for the dalai lama turning 80 next month. he once described himself as a monk but for many he is a beacon of peace and hope. >> much more news on our website. www.aljazeera.com. >> the supreme court up holds the use of execution drug. the ruling coming down on the last day of the court's term. plus in greece people line up to take money out. the economy teetering in default over millions of dollars of debt.

>> this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm stephanie sy. the supreme court has upheld the use of a succeed difficult for lethal injection. death row inmates argued that it does not induce a coma-like sleep like it's supposed to. lisa stark is in washington this this morning with more. does the decision come as a surprise? >> not really, stephanie. during arguments it waws clear that the court was heavily divided, and, in fact, split along the usual ideological lines. five of them signing that it is okay for oklahoma and other states to use the drug as the first drug in three drug cocktail. it's supposed to induce a coma-like sleep for the inmate, and then two other drugs are given, one to paralyze and one to stop the heart. there have been a number of botched execution where is after being given the drug, and then started on the other drug, the

inmate have woken up, writhed in pain and that's why they argue that it violated the eighth amendment against cruel and unusual punishment, the court finding otherwise. >> what did they base their decision on? >> one is from the district court which found for the state and the use of the drug. and second, the inmates needed to show that there was a better, safer less harsh alternative available to prevail under the eighth amendment ban and that they were not able to do that because the two drugs use previously for many years are no longer available because drug companies have stop provided provide providing them.

>> sowed meyer soda meyer aliking this as burning prisoners at the stake. and then. >> the first line of the decision says blatant len ily thats the death penalty was constitution, and that was not in question here. lisa stark, thank you. the debate over execution drug was brought up when an oklahoma inmate received the first of lethal injections that did not go as planned. >> for a room full of witnesses. prepare to see the unimaginable. an unexpected turn.

>> he was. >> inside oklahoma death chamber something went wrong. after weeks of problems, lawsuit and delays, locket was the first to receive an untested dosage of lethal drugs. florida had used the mixture in the past but with five times the amount of sedative. inside the chamber locket refused to make any last remarks, and the warden announced the start of the ex-execution. first, the drug was injected. it took seven minutes for locket to lose consciousness. the next two drugs were

administered and then the unthinkthinkable. locket woke up. witnesses say that his body started to writhing and buckling he even mumbled. >> this was a horrible thing to witness. one of the things that he said something is wrong. he said man at one point. >> prison officials stopped the execution and witnesses were escorted out of the viewing room. later locket died on the table. 43 minutes after the initial dose. >> they wanted to hurry up and get it done. with as little transparency as possible. this is what they get. >> officially it waws believed that locket died of a heart attack but an independent autopsy determined that locket did die of lethal injection. 's hardly a sympathetic character convicted of the 1999 murder of a 19-year-old woman who he raped shot and buried alive. but the question is are drugs with the purpose of taking human life humane? >> there is absolutely no such

thing as a clean humane or painless way to kill a human being. >> as thousands of inmates sit on death row across the country courts are paying close attention to today's supreme court ruling. heidi zhou castro. al jazeera dallas. >> the ruling coming down 5-4 that the states can continue to use this drug cocktail. with us, a defense attorney, thank you for being with us, and good morning to you. is this the court saying that you can continue using these drugs. >> yes, the burden rest with the petitioner in this case to prove that this drug--any drug violates the eighth amendment cruel and unusual punishment clause. and the petitioner themselves will have to bring before the court some alternative that is less likely to cause a problem

than this drug in this case. >> it's hard to see how that can happen. these you see justice breyer in his statement p given all the sentiment in cultural change. >> the question in the oral argument was really about the broader issue of the death penalty, and justice breyer wrote a dissenting statement in which he calls in to question the very nature. there were two votes but responded to by justice scalia in favor of the death penalty. they're debating the larger issue here at the court. >> in fact, during oral arguments the two most

conservative both characterized it that way. it waws it was called a guerrilla war in an attempt to get rid of the use of the drug. the. >> message was do not keep tinkering with these drugs and then call what is left cruel and unusual. they're trying to attack the death penalty. what they missed, though, the reason why other drugs aren't available is because the european union where these drugs are manufactured because of their political opposition to the death penalty has not allowed those companies to send them to the united states for the purpose of capital punishment. >> as a result you have mound compounding pharmacies making the drugs in secret.

>> nobody knows the purity of these drugs and we see continued problems with. administration of the death penalty. >> what are the greater implications of those states that do use the drug cocktails. we've seen three botched executions as a result of these drugs, do they continue to use them? or do they look for other means. some states are thinking of putting firing squads back in place, gas chambers. >> i think they're going to do both at the same time. they'll continue to use these but look for an alternative. there is still a strong majority in favor of the death penalty but the bottom line are the optics of these botched executions. it's really not good for the people who believe in the death penalty. >> thank you for your insights on this. we appreciate it. the supreme court deciding an significant case. the high court ruled 5-4 in a redistricting case from an arizona. the justices ruled that the state can use a commission to

create congressional districts. lisa what are the implications of this ruling? >> these may have broad implications because there are a number of states toying with the different ways to set up congressional districts. 11 of them rely partly on the commission. what is going on here in arizona is that the voters had approved a referendum that would allow this independent commission to set up a congressional district. they were upset about what is called gerrymandering, essentially. when you have a state legislature controlled by one or the other party and they draw up the districts to favor their party. they set up the independent commission to draw up these districts. the state legislature brought this case to the court saying that you're usurping our power under the elections clause of the constitution. we have a right to draw up these districts. the court in a 5-4 decision justice kennedy siding with the liberal wing, deciding that this

independent commission is okay to set up congressional districts. that will continue in arizona and we'll have to see if other states decide to do the same. >> knows commissions are useed in seven states, lisa stark. thank you. the supreme court also greed today to take another look at affirmative action in college admissions. the justices say they will hear for a second time a case involving a white woman denied entry at the university of texas in austin. the case was sent back in 2013. some states are trying to delay implementation of the supreme court's decision of legalizing same-sex marriage. the attorney general in texas is saying that count clerks can refuse to interlicenses to same-sex couples if they would offend the clerk's religious belief. in a statement.

ken paxton writes, the supreme court again ignored the texan spirit of the constitution to manufacture a right that does not exist. paxton acknowledgeed that the clerks are likely to be sued but lawyers will be able to help them in that case. one county clerk said he is ready. >> with regard to the issue of marriage, we're ready to do that today and celebrate that today with a lot of people who have missed out on that opportunity for too many years. bobby jindal said that the supreme court decision will force many in his state to compromise their beliefs. >> i think it is wrong for the federal government to force christian individuals, businesses pastors churches to

participate in wedding ceremonies that violate our sincerely held religious beliefs. we have to stand up for liberty. >> jindal pointed out that president obama praised the supreme court decision years after publicly expressing his opposition to same-sex marriage. former florida governor and presidential candidate jeb bush is speaking out on the affordable care act. the high court ruled 6-3 to keep subsidies for more than 6 million americans in in states without exchanges. bush said, quote: >> another victim of the shooting at the emmanuel ame church will be laid to rest today.

over the week, southbound joe bidenvice president joe biden made a surprise visit at emmanuel ame. on wednesday another fire broke out at god's church of christ, it is being investigated as arson. banks in greece close their doors as the government orders. europe wants athens to come back to the negotiating table or risk default.

>> welcome becomewelcome back to al jazeera america. giving final approval to require

vaccinations to children who attend public school. the bill removes california's personal belief exemption for immune immunization. the bill follows measles outbreak in disneyland. urging hundreds of washington residents to leave their home. the fire east of seattle has consumed 2,000 acres so far and is getting close to homes. around a dozen houses have already been burn: and convicted murderer on the run for weeks after escapeing a prison was shot and is in the hospital. in greece banks are closed and residents have been lining up to get cash.

withdrawals have been limited. athens plans to let the people decide to accept bail out terms. they say greece and it's creditors will need to compromise. >> the institutions ultimatum in the night of the 27th i wonder if they would dare do the same in france, german, the country of origin. would he dare intervene when there is a decision for referendum. >> the whole thing with the banks is not such a big deal. it's the future. what will happen with the referendum. that is the big issue. >> greece has two critical deadlines when it's payments are due to its creditors. tomorrow is the deadline to repay the imt. $1.8billion. on july 20th greece would owe the european central bank

$3.9 billion. greece's banks and stock exchange may be closed but other stock markets are open. the dow is down 130 points right now. patricia joining us with more. what kind of global fallout are we seeing? how severe is it and what are we likely to see ahead. >> the biggest fall out is financial as everyone tries to gauge how empty atms will sway greek voters in whether to accept the bail out terms offered by the imf and european creditors. german chancellor angela merkel is trying to defuse the growing anxiety over the crisis. >> we want negotiations. i want to stress the right of a

greek government to set the referendum. there is no doubt about it. we'll have to respect that. >> it comes when rattled investors are driving equity markets down around the globe. investors are going sour on euros and government debt of peripheral countries including italy, portugal and spain. >> now, a few hours before merkel spoke. european commission said that no vote would set greece on a course to exit the eurozone and urge greek voters to not quote

commit suicide because you are afraid of debt. over the weekend prime minister alexis tsipras on his log this he said that the creditors were treating the idea of a referendum with disdain bordering on contempt. >> what is going to be the go political fall out? >> that is the worry? is this going to drive greece further into the arms of russia which prime minister alexis tsipras made a visit for the second time in three months. and in the kremlin they're loving any divisions within europe. right now there is very much a political imperative to keep europe together. and part of keeping europe together is keeping the eurozone whole. >> a lot of uncertainty there. what about the direct impact here in the u.s.? >> as for direct impact here in

the u.s. you're most likely to see that in terms of the dollar. the dollar has been very strong this year, and part of the reason for that is because europe has been engaged in stimulus program. but the dollar is a safe haven and that makes the dollar even stronger. that of course, impacts how many goods we sell abroad. because the stronger the dollar is the more expensive our goods are to buy abroad. we saw the impact of the strong dollar in our first quarter gdp. that was down and one of the big drags on the economy was the strong dollar from the clock is ticking. patricia sabga. thank you. puerto rico is facing a debt crisis of its own. the governor is expected to release a reform plan today and over the weekend said that the island is in a financial death spiral. he wants to deter debt payments but some say that puerto rico is simply running out of time.

some call puerto rico the greece of the caribbean. the island has an unemployment rate of 14% per capita income is about half that of americans living on the mainland. the healthcare system is in crisis. and 11% cut is scheduled for medicare and medicaid. because that have doctors are leaving puerto rico at a rate of 500 per year. 200,000 puerto ricans have left the island. secretary state john kerry said that it's too soon to tell if negotiations on iran's nuclear program will meet its deadline. world leaders are in vienna to hammer out a deal before tomorrow night. we spoke with senior analysts with the international crisis group saying if even if the deadline passes with a new deal, the talks are too big to fail. >> this was self imposed by the

negotiators. they would push to make the hard decisions. but the reality is in november 2013 in geneva for the interim agreement we missed the deadline. for the graeme work agreement we missed the deadline but nevertheless we were able to bridge the gap and reach an agreement. and still i think now in vienna there is too much political will and the parties have come too close to the finish line to turn around now. >> the group said it wanted to draw attention to put in place since 2007. >> the pro gaza activists on board the flotilla chose to come to protest in the state of

israel, the only state who fights against terrorists. >> israel's military said that it followed maritime law and forced the boat to sail to an israeli port. supreme court court decision has legalized same-sex marriage but finding acceptance in a lot of communities is still a struggle. up next we take you to an away citizen of acceptance to an unlikely place. an eight8 carat diamond for free. the diamond found in the rough.

r your apple and android mobile device. download it now >> one more decision to tell you about from the supreme court this morning. it's a big blow to the obama administration. the justice ruled 5-4 that the environmental protection agency must consider cost before making regulation. the case arises from the epa's efforts to regulate pollution and in particular mercury. dozens of coal-fired plants have been retired as a result. the agency rules that it is

irrelevant. a group of mormon mothers with gay children is trying to change the way it's church view same-sex marriage. the mama dragons are finding themselves in deep conflict with the teachings of the latter day saints. >> mormon church said same sex attraction is not a sin but acting on it is. this has left some mormons feeling rejected from a community they've known their whole lives. >> 16-year-old stockton powers is guy. he said since he has come out he does not feel welcome in the mormon community and no longer goes to church. >> once i came out some people stopped talking to me. we have scout camp annually, and some moms said that if he goes i don't want my child to go because what is what if he is going to do something. >> his mom allison first

struggled with her son's sexuality, but now she leads a group of women. >> we may not be able to make a change within the church, within the culture but i know that we are making changes with other moms, and i know we're providing support for other lgbt people. >> tonight bell' hear more from this family and about their journey to make their church more accepting of their gay loved ones. >> you can see roxana's full report at at 8:00 eastern. you can dig for diamonds in the state park and you can keep what you find. this woman thought she found a quarter crystal. thanks for watching. i'm stephanie sy. the next continues next live

were doha. have a great day. >> hello, and welcome to the news hour. here's what is coming up in the next 60 minutes. assassination in cairo egypt state prosecutor was killed in a bomb attack. greece' bank machines are open. >> the burundi continues with its election.