In a 4-3 decision, Arkansas' highest court stayed the executions of Ward and Davis, each of whom has spent more than 20 years on death row.
"This decision was not unanimous and the dissenting opinions reflect the harm the delays cause the families of the victims and it also expresses my frustration in the continued delayed justice".
"Once again last minute court rulings have changed the course of justice".
Ward, 60, and Davis, 55, were being held in cells near the state's death chamber and their execution warrants were due to expire at midnight (0500 GMT Tuesday).
Attorneys for the eight were likely to appeal the federal appeals court ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Marc Hyden, the national advocacy coordinator for Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty, an anti-death penalty group, also stressed the risk Arkansas' planned execution spree posed to corrections officers. His execution was stayed late last week.
The decision came even as the Arkansas Supreme Court was issuing an order halting two executions set for Monday.
The state was still pressing forward with moves to prepare the two condemned inmates for death on Monday.
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But the state high court's ruling halting the executions remains in effect. The state's attorneys are fighting to persuade judges to allow the executions - and to make the decision quickly. The inmates had filed a legal challenge against the state's accelerated timetable as well as the drug protocol. They say in their filings that the stays should be reversed immediately so Arkansas can carry out the executions before one of its lethal injection drugs expires at the end of the month. A medical supply company said it was misled by the state and that the drug was sold for medical purposes, not executions. After issuing the order, Griffen participated in an anti-death penalty demonstration where he was strapped to a cot.
The judge in question, Wendell Griffen, has since been removed from all cases involving the death penalty, under an order from the Arkansas Supreme Court, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.
What it is: A lawsuit on behalf of nine inmates says Arkansas' use of the drug midazolam puts them at risk of cruel and unusual punishment.
The judge determined that their concerns were sufficient to halt the executions for the time being, to allow the issue to be considered by the courts.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is considering options as to how to proceed, her office announced after the court action was announced. State law requires a 30-day comment period on favourable recommendations, but those 30 days expire after Arkansas' midazolam supply.
She made her plans known in a status update filed Monday with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The high court asked a disciplinary panel to consider whether Griffen violated the code of conduct for judges and the state Supreme Court lifted the stay he had imposed.
As the legal battle plays out, the state's execution facility is readying for a rapid reversal of the decisions. Davis and Bruce Ward were set to be executed Monday night and had been granted stays by the state Supreme Court.
Arkansas said it would go ahead with its plans to execute the remaining six inmates on its current eight-man roster by carrying out dual executions on Thursday, April 24 and April 27. Judge Jane Kelly, in a dissent, argued the the case was about more than which drugs are used to put inmates to death, and questioned whether Arkansas was in line with the Eight Amendment's "evolving standards of decency".
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