DOJ Bringing Back Firing Squads, Lethal Injections

Firing squads are back on the federal government's list of execution options. Per CBS News, the Justice Department on Friday said it's reinstating the lethal injection protocol used during President Trump's first term and adding firing squads as an approved method, part of what the agency calls an effort to "strengthen" the federal death penalty and move cases more quickly. Reuters notes that the DOJ also suggests incorporating electrocution and the controversial gas asphyxiation method used by Alabama into the mix. The move follows Trump's early 2025 executive order directing prosecutors to seek capital punishment "for all crimes of a severity demanding its use," including killings of law enforcement officers and certain crimes by undocumented immigrants.

Federal executions resumed under Trump after an almost two-decade pause, then were halted again when President Biden imposed a moratorium and commuted 37 of 40 federal death sentences. That moratorium was lifted last year by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, who instructed prosecutors to pursue capital charges in select cases, including the 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO. In a new report, the DOJ now criticizes Biden-era policies as having weakened the death penalty, affirming its stance that using pentobarbital for lethal injections doesn't violate the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.