Justice Department Authorizes Firing Squads And Revives Lethal Injection As Federal Execution Methods
The Justice Department on April 24 authorized firing squads and restored pentobarbital as methods for federal executions, adding gas asphyxiation and electrocution to the options to ensure sentences can be carried out.
A 48-page DOJ memo directs federal prisons to include firing squads, gas asphyxiation, electrocution and the pentobarbital lethal-injection protocol. The department framed the move as necessary to strengthen the federal death penalty and to streamline internal processes to expedite capital cases. A DOJ report criticized the prior administration for steps it said weakened and delayed the death penalty and argued pentobarbital does not violate the Eighth Amendment. Senator Dick Durbin called the change "cruel, immoral, and discriminatory," and Pope Leo XIV issued a same-day public denunciation of capital punishment.
The episode traces back to long-running legal fights and drug shortages. Federal executions halted in 2003, then resumed under Attorney General William Barr in 2019 with a single-drug pentobarbital protocol. Between July 2020 and January 2021 the government carried out 13 federal executions using pentobarbital, and November 2020 regulations authorized alternative methods including firing squads. Attorney General Merrick Garland imposed a moratorium in July 2021, the Biden administration later withdrew pentobarbital and commuted 37 federal death sentences in December 2024, and President Trump ordered DOJ in January 2025 to restore execution capabilities and pursue capital punishment more broadly.
Mainstream coverage has shifted since the announcement. Early reports from outlets such as CBS and the BBC emphasized that the change was meant to strengthen the death penalty and streamline procedures, while the Wall Street Journal underlined that this was a formal Trump administration policy decision. Later reporting led by NPR put more weight on moral and political backlash and highlighted high-profile condemnations and updated execution statistics.
National data show only three prisoners now remain on federal death row after the 2024 commutations, while the Justice Department is pursuing death sentences against about 44 defendants. Social media reactions split sharply, with some users praising the move as restoring justice and others condemning it as state-sponsored killing. The policy change comes as nationwide executions rose from 25 in 2024 to 47 in 2025, underscoring shifting federal and state practices.
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📌 Key Facts
- The Justice Department issued a formal memo authorizing firing squads and restoring pentobarbital-based lethal injection, and it explicitly added gas asphyxiation and electrocution among authorized federal execution methods; the announcements were presented as an in-force policy change (April 24–25, 2026).
- DOJ framed the changes as efforts to "strengthen" the federal death penalty, streamline and expedite death-penalty cases, and ensure executions can proceed if specific drugs are unavailable, calling pentobarbital the "gold standard" and asserting its use does not violate the Eighth Amendment.
- The new DOJ report criticizes the Biden-era Justice Department for having "weakened, delayed and dismantled" the death penalty and directly rebuts the prior Biden review that withdrew pentobarbital over pain concerns, arguing pentobarbital renders prisoners unconscious quickly enough to prevent pain.
- The policy implements and advances President Trump’s January 2025 executive order directing DOJ to broadly pursue the death penalty (including for murders of law enforcement officers and certain crimes by unauthorized immigrants) and reflects the administration’s directive to prioritize seeking and carrying out death sentences.
- Political and moral backlash followed: Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin called the expansion "cruel, immoral, and discriminatory" and a "stain" on U.S. history, and the DOJ authorization coincided with a public condemnation of capital punishment by Pope Leo XIV.
- The federal move echoes developments already seen in some states: five states permit firing squads, Alabama executed a prisoner with nitrogen gas in 2024, and four other states have since adopted nitrogen gas as a method.
- Death Penalty Information Center figures cited in reporting show that after President Biden commuted 37 of 40 federal death-row sentences, only three prisoners remain on federal death row, even as the Trump administration has moved to seek death sentences against 44 defendants.
- Nationwide execution activity has increased in recent years, with reporting citing an increase from 25 executions in 2024 to 47 in 2025.
📰 Source Timeline (7)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time
- NPR explicitly links the DOJ memo's publication and the formal authorization of firing squads to the same day Pope Leo XIV issued strong public condemnations of capital punishment, highlighting a direct timing clash.
- The article details that the Trump administration's new report directly rebuts the prior Biden-era review on pentobarbital, claiming that earlier findings misread the science and that pentobarbital renders prisoners unconscious quickly enough to prevent pain.
- NPR specifies updated numbers from the Death Penalty Information Center: only three prisoners remain on federal death row after Biden commuted 37 sentences, while the Trump administration has moved to seek death sentences against 44 defendants.
- The article adds new nationwide execution data from the Death Penalty Information Center, reporting an increase in executions from 25 in 2024 to 47 in 2025.
- The story underscores that these federal execution policy changes are part of a broader directive from President Trump, who has ordered DOJ to prioritize pursuing and carrying out death sentences since returning to office.
- 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.