The Department of Justice has strengthened the federal death penalty by updating its protocol to expand execution methods, such as the firing squad.
The DOJ released its Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty Report, which reviews the actions under the Biden-era DOJ and finds that the “use of pentobarbital to carry out death sentences is consistent with the Eighth Amendment.” The report further directs the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to reinstate the use of pentobarbital as the lethal agent.
Discussing execution methods, the report explains that the Supreme Court has “never rejected a method of execution as unconstitutional.”
“The additional manners of execution that BOP should consider adopting include the firing squad, electrocution, and lethal gas—each of which the Supreme Court has found to be consistent with the Eighth Amendment,” the report adds.
“The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue and carry out the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child murderers, and cop killers,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims.”
President Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term authorizing the Attorney General to “pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use.”
“It is the policy of the United States to ensure that the laws that authorize capital punishment are respected and faithfully implemented, and to counteract the politicians and judges who subvert the law by obstructing and preventing the execution of capital sentences,” the order reads, explaining that the Attorney General will seek the death penalty in cases regarding the murder of law-enforcement officers and in instances where an illegal immigrant committed a capital crime.
