Justice Department Reinstates Firing Squads And Pentobarbital For Federal Executions
The Justice Department announced on April 24, 2026, it is reinstating pentobarbital and adding firing squads as authorized methods for federal executions, expanding the federal death penalty toolkit.
The department said the changes are intended to strengthen the federal death penalty and to streamline internal processes to expedite death-penalty cases. A Justice Department report criticized the Biden Justice Department's moratorium and concluded pentobarbital does not violate the Eighth Amendment. The move follows a presidential directive to pursue capital punishment in cases that the administration considers severe, including murders of law enforcement officers.
The episode traces back to a long federal tug-of-war over execution methods and availability of drugs. Federal executions were halted in 2003 amid legal fights and drug shortages before Attorney General William Barr resumed a single-drug pentobarbital protocol in 2019. Between July 2020 and January 2021 the government executed 13 inmates under that protocol, the first federal executions in 17 years. In November 2020 the Justice Department amended regulations to authorize firing squads, electrocution, and poisonous gas as backups if drugs became unavailable. President Biden imposed a moratorium in July 2021 and a January 2025 DOJ withdrew pentobarbital and kept the pause. Mr. Biden also commuted 37 federal death sentences in December 2024, narrowing the pool of cases the administration could pursue.
Mainstream coverage frames the April 24 decision as a formal Trump administration policy shift rather than a mere technical change. The Wall Street Journal emphasized the policy choice, while NPR and CBS noted the DOJ presentation that the move is meant to ramp up and expedite federal capital cases. Supplemental data shows 16 federal executions since 1988 all used lethal injection, and autopsies have recorded pulmonary edema in over 80 percent of pentobarbital cases. The last U.S. firing squad execution occurred in Utah in 2010, and no federal civilian execution has ever used that method. The announcement prompted sharp public reaction, with social posts condemning the change as barbaric and others praising it as needed tough-on-crime policy. Legal and political fights are expected now that the department has formally expanded execution options.
📊 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 would restore pentobarbital for lethal injection and add firing squads as an authorized method for federal executions.
- The DOJ said the move reimplements the lethal-injection protocol used during the first Trump administration and expands execution options to include firing squads.
- Officials framed the change as part of a broader effort to "strengthen" the federal death penalty, streamline internal processes, and expedite capital cases after the Biden-era moratorium.
- A DOJ report criticized the Biden Justice Department for steps that it said "weaken, delay and dismantle the death penalty," and asserted that using pentobarbital does not violate the Eighth Amendment.
- The report and coverage note that the Biden-era DOJ had withdrawn pentobarbital over concerns it could cause unnecessary pain, a judgment the current DOJ disputes.
- News outlets emphasize this is an active, in-force Trump administration policy decision rather than a technical or draft adjustment to protocol.
- The change is consistent with a Trump executive order directing pursuit of the death penalty for "all crimes of a severity demanding its use," including murders of law-enforcement officers and certain capital crimes by undocumented immigrants.
📰 Source Timeline (5)
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.
- 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.