DOJ Authorizes Firing Squad for Federal Executions
The U.S. Justice Department has authorized firing squads and other methods for federal executions as part of efforts to resume capital punishment under President Trump. The move also reauthorizes single-drug lethal injections using pentobarbital, reversing Biden-era changes. Pope Leo XIV reiterated the Catholic Church's opposition to the death penalty on the same day.
jurist.orgThe U.S. Justice Department announced on Friday that it will authorize firing squads as a method for federal executions, expanding options to include gas asphyxiation, electrocution, and other state-permitted methods. This decision comes as part of the Trump administration's push to resume and expedite capital punishment after a moratorium during the Biden administration.
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Officials stated the changes aim to enforce the law and support victims.
The Biden administration had withdrawn this method due to concerns about potential pain and suffering. A report released by the department on Friday argued that the Biden-era findings misread the science, asserting that pentobarbital renders a prisoner unconscious quickly, preventing pain.
The protocol replaces a three-drug mixture last used in the early 2000s. The remaining inmates are Dylann Roof, convicted for the 2015 murders of nine Black parishioners at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing; and Robert Bowers, convicted for the 2018 shooting of 11 congregants at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue.
The Trump administration has authorized seeking death sentences against 44 defendants since returning to office. Executions nationwide rose from 25 in 2024 to 47 in 2025, with Florida accounting for 19 of those.
the same day as the Justice Department's announcement, Pope Leo XIV reiterated the Catholic Church's opposition to the death penalty, calling it inadmissible and an attack on human dignity in a video message to DePaul University marking the 15th anniversary of Illinois' abolition of capital punishment.
The pontiff's statement highlighted the Church's teaching that human life is sacred from conception to natural death, even after serious crimes. This comes amid tensions between the Trump administration and Catholic leaders on issues including immigration and birthright citizenship.
Five states currently allow firing squads: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah. The expansion aligns with a 2020 rule allowing federal executions to use any method prescribed by the state where the sentence was imposed. Alabama adopted nitrogen gas asphyxiation in 2024, and recent legal challenges to execution methods have largely failed, though Supreme Court justices have criticized some as causing unnecessary suffering.
The pentobarbital protocol was developed under then-Attorney General Bill Barr to replace the earlier three-drug mix. The Biden administration's review found significant uncertainty about pentobarbital's effects, but the new report counters that it overlooked evidence of rapid unconsciousness.
Public support for capital punishment has gradually declined among Americans, though the U.S. remains one of few Western nations still using it.
stated that the changes restore the department's duty to seek and implement capital sentences. The memo emphasizes preparing for executions even if specific drugs are unavailable. The move fulfills President Trump's executive order to resume federal executions, with efforts to streamline internal processes and expedite cases.
Critics, including Senate Judiciary Committee members, have called the resumption a step backward, describing it as cruel and discriminatory.
