Justice Department authorizes firing squads, revives lethal injection protocol

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Justice Department announced Friday it will adopt firing squads as a permitted method of execution and reauthorize single-drug lethal injections using pentobarbital as the Trump administration moves to accelerate federal capital punishment cases, according to LEX 18 News.

The policy marks a significant shift from the Biden administration, which had removed pentobarbital from federal execution protocols over concerns about potential unnecessary pain and suffering. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the moves in a statement, saying 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."

The federal government has never previously included firing squad as an execution method in its protocols, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Five states currently permit executions by firing squad: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah.

The Trump administration's report released Friday contested the Biden administration's scientific findings, arguing that "an injected with pentobarbital quickly loses consciousness—rendering him unable to experience pain." The pentobarbital protocol was originally adopted by former Attorney General Bill Barr during Trump's first term, replacing a three-drug mixture last used in the 2000s.

Three defendants currently remain on federal death row following President Biden's conversion of 37 death sentences to life imprisonment. However, the Trump administration has authorized seeking death sentences against 44 defendants. Those currently on death row include Dylann Roof, convicted in the 2015 Charleston church massacre; Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 congregants at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue in 2018.

The federal government last carried out executions during Trump's first term, when 13 executions were conducted—more than under any president in modern history.