DOJ to Bring Back Old-School Execution Method as Part of Plan to ‘Strengthen the Federal Death Penalty’

A Department of Justice report issued Friday calls for returning the firing squad to the options for executing inmates facing the death penalty.

The report said the Biden Justice Department failed in its mission to carry out lawful executions, requiring a set of rules for capital cases.

“Today, the Department of Justice acted to restore its solemn duty to seek, obtain, and implement lawful capital sentences — clearing the way for the Department to carry out executions once death-sentenced inmates have exhausted their appeals,”  according to a Department of Justice news release that said the department is seeking to strengthen the federal death penalty.

“Among the actions taken are readopting the lethal injection protocol utilized during the first Trump Administration, expanding the protocol to include additional manners of execution such as the firing squad, and streamlining internal processes to expedite death penalty cases,” the release said.

“These steps are critical to deterring the most barbaric crimes, delivering justice for victims, and providing long-overdue closure to surviving loved ones,” the release said.

In the report’s discussion of restoring the firing squad as an option, the report noted, “The Supreme Court has never rejected a method of execution as unconstitutional.”

I love the fact that DOJ brings back the firing squad for execution! https://t.co/ALVJSk5loY

— Solomon Yue (@SolomonYue) April 24, 2026

“The Court first considered whether a method of execution comported with the Eighth Amendment in 1878 in Wilkerson v. Utah. There, the Court held that death by firing squad does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment,” the report said.

The report noted that a liberal Supreme Court justice is even on board.

“As Justice Sotomayor recently described, although ‘[s]ome might find [the firing squad] regressive … the available evidence suggests ‘that a competently performed shooting may cause nearly instant death,’ ‘may also be comparatively painless,’ and historically ‘has yielded significantly fewer botched executions’ than other methods.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the report was needed to correct the wrongs of the Biden era.

“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,” he said in the release.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims,” he said.

The Justice Department is bringing back the firing squad as a manner of execution in federal death penalty cases. https://t.co/IAAUE05K7Z pic.twitter.com/gXhIO8H291

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) April 24, 2026

The release said the department will move forward with 44 cases where it can seek the death penalty, including three MS-13 members accused of murdering a federal witness.

The report calls for “relocating or expanding federal death row or constructing an additional execution facility to permit additional manners of execution.”

The release noted that the Biden-era Justice Department “caused untold harm to the public” when it “broke sharply from its longstanding approach to capital crimes and took extraordinary steps to weaken, delay, and dismantle the death penalty.”

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