Justice Department Formally Authorizes Firing Squads, Gas, Electrocution For Federal Executions
The Justice Department on April 24, 2026, formally authorized firing squads, gas asphyxiation, and electrocution as approved methods for federal executions, while restoring pentobarbital for lethal injection.
A 48-page DOJ memo directs federal prisons to include those methods and says pentobarbital remains the "gold standard" if drugs are available. The announcement frames the change as a move to strengthen the federal death penalty and to streamline internal processes so death sentences can be carried out more quickly. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin condemned the decision as "cruel, immoral, and discriminatory."
The episode traces back to a long federal tug-of-war over execution methods and drugs. Federal executions were halted in 2003 amid legal fights and drug shortages, then restarted under Attorney General William Barr in 2019 using a single-drug pentobarbital protocol that produced 13 executions from July 2020 to January 2021. The Justice Department had amended regulations in November 2020 to authorize firing squads, electrocution, and gas as alternatives. A moratorium followed in July 2021 under Attorney General Merrick Garland, and President Biden later commuted 37 of 40 federal death sentences in December 2024. The DOJ withdrew pentobarbital on January 16, 2025, then President Trump ordered a renewed push for capital punishment after taking office in January 2025.
Coverage has shifted from earlier announcements about reinstating pentobarbital and resuming executions to the publication of the memo itself. Conservative outlets framed the move as a clear Trump administration policy choice. Public broadcasters and international outlets emphasized the policy change as a broader federal effort to resume executions and to ensure alternatives if drugs are unavailable. Several states already allow nonlethal-injection methods; five authorize firing squads and Alabama tested nitrogen gas in 2024.
The decision landed on a fraught factual backdrop: since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988 there have been 16 federal executions, all by lethal injection, and no federal civilian execution has ever used a firing squad. Autopsies of pentobarbital executions found pulmonary edema in over 80% of cases, a condition that can cause a drowning sensation and suggests possible severe pain. The move drew both praise online for delivering justice and outrage calling it state-sponsored killing, signaling that the policy will remain intensely contested.
📊 Relevant Data
Since the reinstatement of the federal death penalty in 1988, there have been 16 federal executions, all by lethal injection, with 13 occurring between July 2020 and January 2021.
Executions Under the Federal Death Penalty — Death Penalty Information Center
Autopsies of inmates executed by pentobarbital lethal injection have shown pulmonary edema in over 80% of cases, a condition that can cause a sensation akin to drowning and indicates potential severe pain during the process.
Inmate Autopsies Reveal Troubling Effects Of Lethal Injection — NPR
The last execution by firing squad in the United States occurred in Utah in 2010, and no federal civilian execution has ever used this method.
Execution by firing squad — Wikipedia
📌 Key Facts
- On April 24, 2026 the Justice Department announced it will reimplement the lethal-injection protocol used during the first Trump administration and restore pentobarbital, calling it the "gold standard" for lethal injection.
- A DOJ memo explicitly directs federal prisons to add firing squads, gas asphyxiation (nitrogen), and electrocution as authorized execution methods in addition to pentobarbital lethal injection.
- The department frames the changes as necessary to "strengthen" and "streamline" the federal death penalty, to expedite capital cases and to ensure executions can proceed if specific drugs are unavailable.
- A DOJ report criticizes the Biden-era Justice Department for steps it says "weaken, delay and dismantle the death penalty" and argues use of pentobarbital does not violate the Eighth Amendment.
- The policy implements and aligns with former President Trump’s January 2025 executive order directing pursuit of the death penalty broadly, including for murders of law enforcement officers and certain capital crimes by undocumented immigrants.
- Multiple outlets describe the move as an active, in-force Trump administration policy choice rather than a proposal or purely technical DOJ adjustment.
- Democratic Senator Dick Durbin publicly denounced the expansion as "cruel, immoral, and discriminatory," calling it a "stain" on U.S. history.
- The federal action follows state-level trends: five states already authorize firing squads, Alabama used nitrogen gas in a 2024 execution, and four other states have since adopted nitrogen as an execution method.
📰 Source Timeline (6)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time
- NPR article confirms the same April 24, 2026 Justice Department decision to add firing squads and restore pentobarbital for federal executions.
- Article reiterates that the move is framed by DOJ as part of a broader push to ramp up and expedite federal capital punishment cases after the Biden-era moratorium.
- Piece restates that Biden-era DOJ had withdrawn pentobarbital over concerns about unnecessary pain, which the current DOJ now disputes in a new report.
- CBS piece reiterates that death by firing squad is now reinstated in U.S. federal cases under the Trump administration.
- Confirms this is being framed publicly as an active, in-force policy change, not just a proposal or draft rule.
- The new 48-page DOJ memo explicitly directs federal prisons to include firing squads, gas asphyxiation, and electrocution among execution methods, in addition to lethal injection with pentobarbital.
- The memo and accompanying report frame the expansion as necessary to "strengthen" the death penalty and ensure executions can proceed if specific drugs are unavailable, calling pentobarbital the "gold standard" of lethal injection drugs.
- The article reiterates that former President Biden granted clemency to 37 of 40 federal death-row prisoners and restates Trump’s January 2025 executive order to again pursue executions broadly, including when an illegal immigrant kills a law enforcement officer.
- Democratic Senator Dick Durbin publicly denounces the change as "cruel, immoral, and discriminatory," calling the expansion a "stain" on U.S. history.
- The piece situates the federal move in the context of states that have already adopted alternative methods, noting five states authorize firing squads and that Alabama executed a prisoner with nitrogen gas in 2024, with four other states since adopting nitrogen.
- Wall Street Journal framing confirms that the Trump administration has formally added firing squads as an authorized federal execution method, aligning with DOJ’s April 24 announcement.
- The article headline reinforces that this is a Trump administration policy choice rather than a purely technical DOJ adjustment.
- DOJ says it is reimplementing the lethal injection protocol used during the first Trump administration and expanding it to include firing squads as an execution method.
- The announcement is explicitly framed as part of efforts to "strengthen" the federal death penalty and to "streamline internal processes to expedite death penalty cases."
- DOJ report criticizes the Biden Justice Department for steps that allegedly "weaken, delay and dismantle the death penalty" and asserts that use of pentobarbital does not violate the Eighth Amendment.
- The article reiterates Trump’s executive order directing pursuit of the death penalty for "all crimes of a severity demanding its use" and specifically for murders of law enforcement officers and capital crimes committed by illegal immigrants.